Bharti Airtel becomes only Indian company to Join TIP

NEW DELHI: Sunil Mittal-driven Bharti Airtel has become an early member of the Telecom Infra Project — a worldwide initiative founded by global carriers, technology and infrastructure providers and Facebook —with the aim to create new approaches for building and deploying network infrastructure, and has set up India’s first TIP Community Lab as part of the initiative.

The move makes Bharti Airtel the only Indian company to be part of the initiative. The No 1 carrier has converted part of its network engineering lab in Manesar to a global facility which will be used by group members of TIP project to create innovative solutions for telecom networks.

“Airtel is amongst the early members of TIP, a global initiative founded by Facebook, Deutsche Telekom, Intel, Nokia and SK Telecom to create a new approach to building and deploying telecom network infrastructure,” the Gurugram-based telco said in a statement.


“Having been at the forefront of India’s telecom revolution, Airtel is excited to extend its network innovation facilities to the growing TIP Community Lab program,” said Abhay Savargaonkar, director - networks for India and South Asia at Bharti Airtel.

TIP is an engineering-focused initiative driven by operators, suppliers, integrators, and startups, established in February 2016 to disaggregate the traditional network deployment approach.

Airtel is also looking to collaborate with other TIP members in creating innovative network infrastructure solutions for the future, and quickly and cost-effectively expand the reach of its networks to serve customers with exciting and disruptive solutions.