Airtel has said the multi-million dollar investment – which will help it capitalise on the enterprise segment – will run to 2025. It will see the division "build a data centre economy across 80 Indian cities". In total, the move is expected to triple current installed capacity to reach more than 400MW.
"There is a huge potential and huge demand [for data centres] which is expected in the next three to four years time," Airtel Business chief executive Ajay Chitkara said in a virtual press conference announcing the news.
" Some of the work has already started. As an organisation we are trying to build an ecosystem, which will cover 70 more cities… There is a huge potential and huge demand (for data centres) which is expected in the next three to four years time," he added.
New locations will include Chennai, Mumbai, Pune and Kolkata.
Nxtra operates 10 large and 120 edge data centres across India. Following the commissioning of a solar plant earlier this year, it aims to meet more than 50% of its power input through renewable sources during FY2022.
In July 2020, the business received a $235 million capital boost when Comfort Investments II – ultimately an investment fund managed and advised by affiliated entities of The Carlyle Group – took a 25% stake in the business.
