Bharti Airtel to invest Rs 5,000 cr in new data center

Airtel has announced that to meet customer demand in and around India; it is expanding its data center business. An injection of ₹ 5,000 crore ($673 million) will facilitate this growth, and initial plans are to create a "data centre economy" across 80 Indian cities, tripling its installed capacity to over 400 MW. According to reports, targeted cities include Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata, Noida, and Hyderabad.

As the company pursues this expansion, it has rebranded as 'Nxtra by Airtel.' Currently, the company operates ten large and 120 edge data centers across India.

Ajay Chitkara, Director and CEO of Airtel Business, explained: "Airtel has built the largest data center network in India and we are now doubling down on this business to scale up our network that will be at the core of 5G and Digital India."

Ha added: "Our experience of operating secure data centers, deep brand trust in the enterprise segment and the ability to deliver end-to-end digital transformation solutions positions us well to serve the emerging requirements of India's connected economy. The new brand identity embodies this vision and ambition."

The company has also outlined that going forward; it plans to level up its green energy efforts for its future data centers. Moreover, the company has pledged to source 50% of its power requirements from renewable sources.