Both companies will jointly invest in global connectivity infrastructure and CPaaS (Communications Platform as a Service) based new-age digital solutions…reports Asian Lite News
Bharti Airtel and Meta on Monday announced their collaboration to support the growth of India’s digital ecosystem.
Airtel partners with Meta and STC (Seychelles Trading Company) to bring 2Africa Pearls to India as part of its ongoing effort to improve the nation’s infrastructure.
2Africa is the world’s longest subsea cable system and is expected to provide faster internet connectivity to nearly 3 billion people worldwide.
“With our contributions to the 2Africa cable and Open RAN, we are investing in crucial and progressive connectivity infrastructure which is needed to support the increasing demand for high-speed data in India. We look forward to working closely with Meta to deliver best-in-class digital experiences to our customers in India,” Vani Venkatesh, CEO, Global Business, Bharti Airtel said in a statement.
Both companies will jointly invest in global connectivity infrastructure and CPaaS (Communications Platform as a Service) based new-age digital solutions to support the emerging requirements of customers and enterprises in India.
“We look forward to continuing our collaboration with Airtel to further advance the region’s connectivity infrastructure that will enable a better network experience for people and businesses across India,” Francisco Varela, vice president of mobile partnerships for Meta said in a statement.
The company said that it will integrate Meta’s WhatsApp within its CPaaS platform.
With this integration, businesses will be able to use WhatsApp’s extensive features and reach to provide enterprises with unparalleled omnichannel customer engagement.
Meanwhile, the reach of digital technologies remains limited to largely male, urban, upper-caste, and upper-class households and individuals, said Oxfam India’s latest ‘India Inequality Report 2022: Digital Divide’.
The percentage of men owning phones is as high as 61 per cent while only 31 per cent of the women owned phones in 2021, according to the report.
Oxfam India has called on the Union government and state governments to ensure universal access to Internet connectivity by investing in digital infrastructure to not only make the Internet affordable but also push for greater accessibility to smartphones.
According to the report, 8 per cent of the General Caste have a computer or a laptop whereas less than 1 per cent of the Scheduled Tribes (ST) and 2 per cent of the Scheduled Castes (SC) have it. As per the Mobile Gender Gap report by GSMA, women are less likely to use mobile Internet by 33 per cent when compared to men in 20.
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