Que: Could you provide an overview of Airtel's Cellular IoT business and its significance in the current market landscape?

Ans: Cellular IoT runs on the same principles as our core mobile business. The basic idea is that a cellular network that enables mobile phone connectivity, is also capable of connecting devices, wherever they are. This can be done through various radio technologies that have evolved over time, namely 2G, 4G, 5G and now NB-IoT or Narrow Band IoT, which is designed for IoT-specific use cases.

As India’s economy is growing, businesses across sectors are witnessing IoT-led transformations. In industries like fintech and logistics, IoT has existed since long with point-of-sale and vehicle tracking devices. In other industries like healthcare, manufacturing and auto, it is coming up in a big way now.

We are one of the leading companies in the connectivity space and the largest in cellular IoT with a revenue market share of 55.4 percent. Our network has 29 Mn connected devices powering a plethora of use cases such as connected auto (conventional/electric vehicles), smart metering, smart logistics, asset monitoring and energy management amongst others. For Airtel, IoT is amongst the fastest growing products in the B2B segment with a lot of leadership focus on growth.

There has been a lot of work on the software as well as the network side to bring us where we are and we are continuing to improve and advance. For example, we have created a platform specifically designed for our IoT customers to centrally manage and control their devices deployed on the field. On the network side, we are building an ‘IoT grade’ network which means that our network is being designed to support the scale and behaviour of IoT devices. We are also rolling out NBIoT, a technology designed to support low throughput devices needing long battery life and extended coverage. We are also bringing in a lot of network analytics on our platform, empowering our customers with real-time information on the quality and availability of the network to help them with deeper insights into behaviour of their devices on the field.

Que: What role does Cellular IoT play in smart metering, and what are the various ways in which this industry is evolving? Could you share insights into the market size and potential growth?

Ans: Utilities in India are undergoing a digital transformation. The government of India has laid down its plans to implement a pan-India Smart Grid wherein 250 million conventional meters will be replaced with smart meters. This is aimed at meeting India’s future energy demands while curtailing Aggregate Technical and Commercial (AT&C) losses. This transformation is expected to transform the way in which utility services are delivered to and consumed by citizens.

Smart meter rollouts are happening at a very rapid pace. Currently, more than 222 million smart meters have been sanctioned. Of these 222 million meters, around 108 million have been awarded and only around 8-9 million meters have been made live. This means that there remains a tremendous amount of work to be done. Airtel is working with system integrators that are deploying the smart metering technology stack for DISCOMs by providing them Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) network which can enable them to connect millions of meters. NB-IoT network is geared for low throughput devices such as meters requiring deep indoor and rural coverage.

Smart metering ecosystem mandates real-time transmission of data from these meters to the cloud for data analytics and demand-supply forecasting. Given the geographical and topographic spread for deployment of meters across the country, licensed cellular networks emerge as the most feasible communication infrastructure for connecting these meters.

Cellular IoT provides utilities with a standards-based communication offering for connecting the meters which ensures there are no interoperability challenges between different service providers. This also safeguards the deployments from vendor-specific proprietary implementations which may prove to be unviable in the long run. Another key benefit of licensed cellular networks is the plug-and-play nature of the offering. These networks do not require customers to incur any upfront capex for network roll-out, and eliminate costs, and challenges associated with deploying, managing and operating these proprietary networks.

Smart metering deployments entail long-term contracts with a cumulative deployment and service period of 10 years; thus, cellular communication technologies provide the right mix of security, reliability and commercial viability required by SIs which are bidding for these contracts.

Que: In the context of smart metering, what unique initiatives or strategies is Airtel Business implementing through partnerships with IntelliSmart and Adani?

Ans: Smart metering as a technology has four key components. First is the meter hardware, and second is the network provider or the communications provider. Third is the cloud where the storage and analytics happen. Fourth is the application layer where all the intelligence resides i.e., Head End System (HES) for data ingestion, Meter Data Management (MDM) for data analytics and integration with DISCOMs system. The way the ecosystem works is that the SI can choose to bundle all this with one provider such as Airtel or they may award these independently.

Airtel has also developed tools customized for large-scale implementations which act as enablers for customers in the utilities space. This includes the ability to do deployment feasibility from the Airtel platform thus helping the customers save critical resources by avoiding expensive field surveys.

Airtel with its integrated offerings is emerging as a partner of choice for SIs deploying the smart metering stack. Intellismart Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd (Intellismart) and Adani Energy Solutions Limited (AESL) are two of the largest Advanced Metering Infrastructure Service Provider (AMISP) in the country with a mandate to deploy smart meters across several states. Both these companies have trusted Airtel with their smart meter deployment and have awarded Airtel with the mandate to connect up to 20 million meters respectively.

For Intellismart, we have bunded our two core capabilities – connectivity and cloud – thus making it easier and economical for them to deploy their smart metering stack. Lastly, Airtel is also providing Intellismart with its Head End System (HES) application with the application being hosted on Airtel cloud.

Through these partnerships, we continue to significantly contribute towards fast-growing smart metering deployments in the country.

Que: Do you have any other smart metering projects in pipeline? If yes, please share the details. Also, share your views on the role of smart metering in optimizing energy efficiency.

Ans: Our view is that 2024 is expected to be a watershed year for smart metering with deployments happening across nearly all states. There is a determined policy push and stakeholder buy in for the initiative at all levels. Smart meters don’t solve all the problems of state utilities but they are a significant first step towards better financial health. These meters help DISCOMs reduce T&D losses and operational expenditure, allow for better demand forecasting, and ultimately increase revenue. The mandate of Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS) to implement prepaid smart meters is a game changer and will improve the quality and reliability of power supply to consumers. Being an incentive-based scheme RDSS targets the financial sustainability of DISCOMs while providing support for the upgradation of the distribution infrastructure and smart metering systems.

Another important and pro-consumer measure announced by the Government last year is the planned introduction of the Time of Day (ToD) tariff structure which can help consumers reduce their electricity bills by effectively planning their consumption during non-peak hours. ToD tariff will also improve the management of renewable generation fluctuations, and the system load factor by reducing the demand on the system during peak period.

We will not be able to make forward-looking statements about deals as we are in the quiet period before announcing our results.

Que: Airtel Business is known for its IoT HUB. Can you shed light on how this platform contributes to building solutions in the Cellular IoT space?

Ans: IoT Hub is our award-winning connectivity management platform that we offer to all our IoT customers. It gives them complete control of their SIM lifecycle – activation/ deactivation, billing and payment, network configurations, service requests – and is at the heart of our engagement with IoT customers. The platform is developed and managed by Airtel’s in-house engineering and network teams. This enables us to nimbly adapt to any customisation which are customers may need to successfully deploy their IoT solutions.

We have invested in building a strong pool of engineers which means we are able to work in a co-development model for our customers. For instance, in the Fintech space, we have built a solution which uses data and SMS in parallel to enable voice confirmation in parallel. For the Auto segment, we have built advanced split billing solutions, which allow OEMs to share connectivity costs with the car owners. Then there is ‘Always-on–connectivity’ solution which ensures 100 percent reliable connectivity via a smart applet in areas where our network may be deficient.

Another example is where we have made the vanilla SMS programmable which enables our customers to configure, manage or perform health check of their devices over APIs. In the Utility space, we are building advanced tools for visibility into our network KPIs to help them make deployment decisions and meet government-mandated SLAs. The industry had been demanding some of these solutions for long and we are the first ones to stitch them for our customers.

Que: Looking ahead, what is Airtel Business's vision for the future of Cellular IoT, and how does it fit into the broader digital transformation landscape?

Ans: Benefits from IoT transcend sectors from mobility, finance, heathcare to power and agriculture. One of the most emergent trends in terms of consumer IoT can be witnessed in the automotive sector. The connected car ecosystem in India has evolved rapidly over the past 24-36 months, with all leading auto manufacturers either launching connected offerings or firming up concrete plans to launch such variants. Analytics around real-time driving patterns and driver behavior are helping OEMs build features aimed at improving driver and passenger safety. OEMs today implement security features such as emergency calling (e-call) and SOS communication to ensure that the vehicle can communicate with a contact center in case the passenger needs any help.

In the Fintech space, IoT has transformed the digital payments ecosystem. The Voice payment confirmation device/ Smart speaker/ Soundbox gives merchants confidence to use UPI as a payment method. It has significantly brought down user fraud at merchant locations. For the Manufacturing segment, the Industry 4.0 suite of solutions around industrial equipment monitoring, proactive maintenance, waste reduction, material theft and energy management, are helping companies transform their operations and optimize costs.

Apart from these, new use cases in agriculture and healthcare are coming up. IoT can enable agriculture by enabling real-time information on weather, alerts on soil conditions, and crop health. Meanwhile, IoT is improving healthcare by enabling remote patient monitoring, real-time tracking of medical equipment, and predictive maintenance of medical devices.

Additionally, with India gearing up to become a global manufacturing hub, device OEMs and IoT solution providers are looking to manufacture and build their IoT solutions in India and deploy them globally. Airtel is working to introduce a global IoT connectivity solution which will give our customers access to Airtel’s global roaming network and a single pane of glass which allows them to control and manage their devices anywhere across the world. With such solutions, Airtel aims to contribute to our Prime Minister’s vision of building an ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’.

However, as the proliferation of IoT devices increases in our country, issues around data security and privacy of end-user data are gaining prominence. Airtel takes these issues very seriously and we have been building capabilities to ensure that our customers and their data always remain secure.