After investing more than Rs 3.3 lakh crore over the past decade in building one of India's largest digital infrastructure platforms, Bharti Airtel is positioning itself for the country's next wave of AI-led digital transformation by expanding into financial services, sovereign cloud and data centres, Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal said in the company's FY26 annual report.
Mittal said Airtel's role is evolving beyond being a telecom operator to becoming a builder of the "digital highways" powering India's economic activity, innovation and inclusion, as supportive government policies around artificial intelligence (AI), cloud infrastructure and data localisation create fresh investment opportunities.
"Over the last 10 years, your Company has invested significantly with over Rs 3.3 trillion in creating one of India's strongest digital infrastructure platforms. The emergence of the 5G economy is defining the next phase of growth, enabling new use cases across industries," Mittal said.
He added that AI has transformed government services, enterprise operations and communication, and Airtel is working to ensure the technology's adoption is broad-based, responsible and aligned with India's priorities.
"Policies supporting cloud, AI and digital infrastructure are expected to further accelerate investments and strengthen the ecosystem," Mittal said, adding that the government's long-term tax holiday for cloud- and AI-led data centre investments is expected to catalyse capital inflows while ensuring sovereign and secure data flows.
New growth engines
Mittal said Airtel's next phase of growth will be driven by three adjacent businesses where the company believes it has a "clear right to win"—financial services, data centres and Airtel Cloud.
"Over the last few years, we took a calibrated approach to build new growth engines for Airtel. These bold bets yielded strong outcomes and have grown our conviction in three adjacencies where we believe Airtel has a clear right to win -- financial services, data centres and Airtel Cloud," he said.
The company has committed Rs 20,000 crore to Airtel Money after the Reserve Bank of India approved it as a non-deposit taking Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC).
"This is a significant milestone for your Company, as also, for the broader goal of expanding the reach of financial inclusion in India. Airtel Money will be suitably capitalised over the years," Mittal said.
In the data centre business, Airtel's subsidiary Nxtra is on track to build 1 gigawatt (GW) of capacity over the next few years. The company recently raised USD 1 billion from marquee investors alongside Airtel's participation to fund the expansion.
Mittal said India's rapid digitisation, growing cloud adoption and increasing data localisation requirements make data centres a compelling long-term opportunity.
The company's third growth engine, Airtel Cloud, is also gaining traction, he said.
"Our sovereign, telco-grade cloud offering addresses an emerging need in the Indian market. Airtel Cloud allows our customers to get access to world-class cloud offerings hosted and held in India and delivered in a cost-effective manner," Mittal said.
On the enterprise front, Airtel secured more than 24 sovereign cloud deals during FY26 while strengthening its digital services portfolio across cloud, cybersecurity, CPaaS and Internet of Things (IoT) solutions.
AI, 5G to drive the next growth cycle
Mittal said widespread 5G availability is accelerating the shift towards high-speed, low-latency connectivity and unlocking new innovation opportunities across industries.
"Our 5G customer base has grown to 188 million. Airtel's 5G Plus network now carries half of all wireless data traffic on our network," he said.
The company has also expanded its footprint in underserved geographies, rolling out around 40,000 network sites over the past three years to improve digital inclusion.
Beyond expanding connectivity, Airtel said it is increasingly embedding AI across its operations to simplify network management, improve operational efficiency and customer experience, while making infrastructure more energy efficient. Mittal also highlighted Airtel's AI-powered spam detection platform, which has significantly reduced unsolicited calls and messages reaching customers.
The company continues to invest in nationwide 5G deployments, fibre infrastructure, subsea cable systems, Optical Ground Wire (OPGW) networks and preparations for 5G Standalone, which Mittal described as an important milestone in the next phase of network evolution.
The home broadband business also maintained strong momentum, with Airtel crossing eight million fibre customers, expanding fixed wireless access (FWA) services to over 3,300 cities and ending the year with a record 4.2 million FWA customers.
Looking ahead, Mittal said Airtel has the scale, capability and intent to lead India's next phase of digital growth by combining connectivity with AI, cloud infrastructure and digital platforms.
"Our role extends well beyond connectivity. We are building the digital highways that enable economic activity, innovation and inclusion at scale," he said.