iWorld
PNC Digital makes entertainment ‘Only Much Louder’
MUMBAI: PNC Digital, today announced an exclusive collaboration with Only Much Louder (OML). Through this partnership, global subscribers of Ogle, PNC Digital’s proprietary streaming platform can now watch, the country’s most awaited music event, Bacardi NH7 Weekender, live on-demand. This three-day multi-artist music festival Bacardi NH7 Weekender will be held in Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata and Pune this November.
Ogle global subscribers are free to choose whichever artistes they wish to see and watch them perform on devices of their choice. This exclusive collaboration between Ogle and OML will widen the range of entertainment available on Ogle. Commenting on this collaboration, Pritish Nandy, Chairman, PNC Digital said: “This is the beginning of change. Viewers can now watch whatever they want, wherever and whenever they want. The power is shifting from those who deliver entertainment to those who view it. That is the future.”
Harshawardhan Sabale, CEO, Ogle said: “Ogle has been built ground up to become the digital platform of choice for viewers who are not interested in being slaves to entertainment intermediaries. Our partnership with OML will provide our subscribers access to some of the best local content and bleeding edge digital interaction technology which, till now, was out of reach of most Indian consumers given the sub-optimal data networks in India.”
Ogle constantly promises to provide anytime-anywhere entertainment to its viewers, establishing the power of choice for entertainment scripted and non-scripted. With this association PNC Digital has taken entertainment to the next level, allowing consumers an option, till now non-existent, to catch exciting new niche events and live performances in real time. Ogle strives to introduce an entire lifestyle shift for those who are pushed for time and simply cannot afford appointment viewing.
Vijay Nair, CEO, OML, said: “We are excited about partnering with Ogle and providing our fans a chance to watch some of the properties we have built and content we have produced through this platform. Ogle’s bouquet of content is quite exciting and we feel that the service is a natural fit for the content we create.”
iWorld
Akhil Gupta retires as Bharti Enterprises vice chairman after three decades
The man who outsourced Airtel’s network and built Indus Towers leaves behind a telecom industry transformed
NEW DELHI: He was not the most visible face of Bharti. He was, by most accounts, the most consequential one. Akhil Gupta, known within the group simply as AKG, has retired as vice chairman of Bharti Enterprises with effect from March 31st, 2026, closing a chapter that stretched across more than three decades and reshaped Indian telecoms in ways still felt today.
Gupta was there at the beginning, part of the core leadership team that steered Bharti Airtel from a scrappy domestic operator into one of the world’s largest telecom and digital services companies. But it is two decisions in particular that cement his legacy. The first was persuading the industry that a telecom company need not own its own network. His outsourcing partnerships with IBM and Ericsson, considered eccentric at the time, stripped out capital costs and sharpened Airtel’s competitive edge. The model was subsequently copied across the global industry. The second was the creation of Indus Towers, now one of the largest tower companies in the world.
Both initiatives were studied as case material at Harvard Business School, where Gupta himself had studied. A chartered accountant by training and a dealmaker by instinct, he accumulated industry accolades across his career without ever particularly courting the limelight.
Bharti Enterprises, announcing the retirement on LinkedIn, credited Gupta with building the foundation of the group’s success and driving innovation, partnerships and long-term value creation.
The tributes are deserved. Gupta did not just help build Airtel. In many respects, he helped invent the playbook that modern telecoms runs on.
