Airtel bets on AI and customer experience to power brand growth

MUMBAI: The strongest signal no longer comes from a mobile tower, it comes from the customer. That is the message running through Bharti Airtel’s FY26 Annual Report, where the telecom giant positions marketing as a strategic growth engine powered by artificial intelligence, customer experience and digital ecosystems rather than network expansion alone.

The report suggests Airtel is reshaping its brand strategy to compete on engagement, convenience and value, with AI-powered services, converged offerings and omnichannel experiences taking centre stage as it looks to deepen customer relationships.

Customer experience emerges as one of the company’s biggest competitive differentiators. Airtel said it continued investing in digital platforms, network quality and go-to-market capabilities to deliver a seamless experience across mobile, broadband and home services.

The strategy appears to be paying off. Airtel’s Homes business crossed 14.2 million customers during FY26, up from 10 million a year earlier. Its fibre broadband footprint expanded to 45 million home passes across 1,635 cities, while Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) services are now available in more than 3,300 cities, underscoring the company’s push to build long-term, multi-service customer relationships.

A key part of that strategy is One Airtel, which bundles mobile, broadband and other services into a single plan, allowing customers greater flexibility while encouraging higher-value household engagement.

Artificial intelligence is also becoming central to Airtel’s growth playbook. The company said it accelerated digital transformation across customer-facing innovation, platform monetisation and core business operations, arguing that businesses that fail to innovate risk higher customer churn and becoming trapped in commoditised connectivity services.

To strengthen its AI ecosystem, Airtel announced partnerships with Google to establish India’s first Mega AI Hub and with IBM to expand Airtel Cloud. It also teamed up with Perplexity and Adobe to bring AI-powered search, knowledge discovery and content creation tools to millions of users, extending its digital ecosystem beyond traditional telecom services.

The report also highlights Airtel’s growing emphasis on listening to consumers across every touchpoint. Customer feedback is collected through Airtel stores, contact centres, email, SMS, social media platforms and the Airtel Thanks app, with the company using these interactions to improve service quality and resolve issues continuously.

On the governance front, Airtel disclosed that it received five advertising-related consumer complaints during FY26, all of which had been resolved by the end of the financial year.

The broader takeaway from the annual report is that Airtel increasingly sees brand building as an outcome of innovation rather than advertising alone. From AI-powered spam protection and bundled OTT entertainment to integrated broadband-mobile plans, cloud partnerships and AI-enabled consumer tools, the company is positioning itself as a digital services ecosystem designed to keep customers engaged long after they sign up.