Airtel Launches Airtel BlueJeans Video Conferencing Platform; Teams Up With Verizon

Bharti Airtel on Tuesday announced the launch of a video conferencing solution with Verizon, which will rival popular Zoom and billionaire Mukesh Ambani's upstart JioMeet.

Announcing the launch of video conferencing platform 'Airtel BlueJeans' in partnership with US telecom giant Verizon, Bharti Airtel's MD and CEO Gopal Vittal said the services that will be targeted at enterprise customers, to begin with, and will be offered free for the first three months.

After that it will be priced "very competitive", Vittal said at a virtual conference.

With this, Airtel is all set to take on Zoom, JioMeet, and others for a slice of India's booming market for conferencing and collaborative tools.

India and other markets are witnessing a sharp surge in demand for enterprise-grade video conferencing tools as work from home and virtual meetings become the new normal, amid coronavirus pandemic that shows no signs of slowing down.

The offering - Airtel BlueJeans - is a secure platform committed to end-user privacy and enterprise-grade video conferencing tools as work from home and virtual meetings become the new normal, amid coronavirus pandemic that shows no signs of slowing down.

The offering - Airtel BlueJeans - is a secure platform committed to end-user privacy and enterprise-grade security, Vittal said, adding that all the data will be hosted in India.

The alliance in India will bring Airtel and Verizon together to address the need for seamless and secure business collaboration as organisations move from office-based work to work from anywhere, the companies said in a joint statement.

The video-conferencing platform will be deeply relevant to all businesses in India, and has been developed in partnership with the team at BlueJeans, Vittal said.

The move comes just days after the launch of Mukesh Ambani-led Jio's JioMeet application, which positions itself as Made in India, Made for India, and is free for all users.

"As part of this partnership, Airtel will offer secure enterprise-grade video conferencing solutions under the brand name - Airtel BlueJeans - to enterprise customers in India," the joint statement said.

The platform can accommodate 50,000 attendees, and is simple and intuitive to use, Vittal said.

BlueJeans, Verizon's enterprise-grade video conferencing service, helps people communicate and collaborate across mobile, desktop, browser and conference rooms and meets stringent security needs of banks, healthcare providers and other organisations, the company statement said.

The offering includes a cloud point of presence in India, enabling low latency and improved quality of service for customers.

The technology will be fully integrated with Airtel's network, including its data centres, to ensure that customers are offered a reliable and secure customer experience.

Airtel BlueJeans will offer an integrated audio solution, giving its customers convenient dial-in options to join the meetings.

"Airtel BlueJeans is a highly differentiated video conferencing solution that sets the benchmark with its high levels of security and ease of use. We look forward to building a deep partnership with Verizon to serve the needs of emerging digital India," Vittal said.

The "first port of call" for the offering will be enterprises and SMB (small and medium-sized business) customers in India, although the company did not rule out bundling it for home broadband users, at some point.

"...there is no reason why this can't go into being bundled with our home broadband to end-users as well. This is something we are going to look at. Over the next few weeks, you will see several approaches from us in addressing the full breadth of Indian market opportunity," Vittal said.

After India, Airtel may also look at extending this partnership to the African market, where the company operates.

"Companies of all sizes around the world have seen the requirement for reliable, high-quality video conferencing services and require trusted partners to ensure the highest level of security. We are proud to come together with Airtel to help more Indian organisations benefit from our world-class communication product during this work-from-home era and beyond," Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg said.

(PTI)