Bharti Airtel to Expand Data Centers with $673 Million Investment

India’s major telecom group. Bharti Airtel announced on Thursday it plans to expand its data business center to meet growing consumer demand. The company aims to invest approximately $673 million on its new expansion project.

The investment plans are expected to be complete by the year 2025. Ajay Chitkara, Airtel Executive said new plans include increasing installed capacity to over 400 megawatts by constructing data center economy in over 80 major cities across the country. He further said in a virtual news conference, “There is a huge potential and huge demand for data centers which is expected in the next three to four years’ time.”

At the moment, Nxtra has around 10 large and 120 edge data centers and facilities across the country. The new expansion strategy aims to build more revenue streams and acquire a larger market share. The business plan is aimed to diversify lines to meet new demands as traditional voice services become obsolete.

Last year, Carlyle, U.S Private Equity group bought a 25% stake in Nxtra whereas Airtel still owns the remaining 75%. By the year 2025, public cloud spending is expected to cross $12 billion by 2025. Reliance Jio, one of the main rivals of Airtel has previously partnered with Microsoft in 2016 for data centers. This year, the firm has asked Google to help boost its consumer offerings and plans as it gears up to launch 5G network services.