iWorld
Airtel collaborates with Cisco to launch India’s first automated ethernet over fibre network
MUMBAI: Bharti Airtel (Airtel), India’s largest integrated telco, today announced its collaboration with Cisco to launch India’s largest 5G-ready, 100G IP and optical integrated network designed to enhance network availability, capacity and scale. The deployment is part of Airtel’s initiative to build a 5G ready network that continues to serve the growing demand for high speed data services in the country.
India is currently the world’s second-largest telecommunications market with a subscriber base of 1.17 billion. Cisco’s recent Annual Internet Report forecasts there will be 67.2 million 5G connections in India by 2023 (4.9 per cent of total mobile connections), and 66 per cent of all devices will be mobile-connected by 2023, (34 per cent will be wired or connected over Wi-Fi).
Airtel’s network serves over 280 million mobile subscribers across 4G and 2G technologies. This new IP over ethernet over fibre network is the largest hyper-complex brownfield network transformation of its kind in India, collapsing multiple legacy domains to build a flatter, simpler and automated 5G-ready IP network for enhanced customer experiences. It integrates Cisco IP and optical solutions along with segment routing to more easily extend services in rural communities while significantly improving network availability and creating cost efficiencies.
The simple, flexible and self-healing architecture is built with an agile, programmable and software-defined platform to deliver exponential mobile internet growth. It has already realized significant speeds with scale to enable new, advanced B2B and B2C services. The open standards architecture with automation brings in efficiencies for new and legacy infrastructure, eliminating manual touchpoints in a brownfield environment.
“Airtel continues to transform its network to ensure greater availability and reach across India to deliver best-in-class mobile experience for our customers,” Bharti Airtel CTO Randeep Sekhon said. “Our ongoing collaboration with Cisco is critical in helping us to be 5G-ready, collapsing multiple legacy domains to build a flatter, simpler and automated network with more bandwidth to support internet services and the endless growth in consumer and business applications people rely on every day,” he added.
“Airtel is transforming its network to be modern, adaptable and scalable to accommodate the phenomenal mobile growth in India,” Cisco Service Provider Business, India and SAARC managing director Anand Bhaskar said. “Together we are delivering a highly-scalable IP and optical network throughout India that enables broader mobile access to connect more people and more businesses who can do more with the internet."
iWorld
Bullet microdrama app crosses 10 million downloads on Play Store
Top shows clock millions of views as platform expands across 7 languages
MUMBAI: Short, sharp and shooting ahead, Bullet microdrama app is proving that in the age of shrinking attention spans, brevity isn’t just the soul of wit, it’s the engine of growth. The platform has crossed 10 million downloads on the Google Play Store, marking a significant milestone as microdramas carve out a firm space in India’s fast-evolving digital entertainment ecosystem. The surge reflects a growing appetite for snackable, high-impact storytelling, with Bullet leaning heavily into quick, engaging narratives that resonate across diverse audiences.
The traction is visible not just in downloads but in content performance. Among its top titles, Rickshaw Romeo leads the pack with 9.1 million views, followed by Auto Raja at 3.4 million, Laxmi Raj at 2.6 million, Lady Boss, With Love at 2.2 million, and Dear Didimoni at 1.9 million. The numbers point to a platform steadily building repeat engagement rather than one-hit virality.
Beyond the app, Bullet’s digital footprint is also expanding. The platform has crossed 100,000 followers on Instagram, signalling a growing community that extends beyond passive viewing into active content discovery and sharing.
A key differentiator lies in its linguistic spread. With content available across 7 Indian languages, Bullet is positioning itself as one of the more inclusive players in the microdrama space, tapping into regional storytelling to drive scale and relevance simultaneously.
The milestone comes at a time when short-format storytelling is gaining serious momentum, with platforms experimenting to balance volume, novelty and retention. Bullet’s early traction suggests that audiences are not just scrolling, they’re sticking around, one bite-sized episode at a time.
