As India’s telecom giants shift gears away from data wars and the ongoing exploration of digital ecosystems, cloud storage emerges as their next battleground.
Bharti Airtel, for instance, has entered into a partnership with Google allowing customers to receive 100 GB of free Google One storage for six months. More than simply value added service, this tactic was designed to allow for a slight step ahead of Reliance Jio’s ambition to take AI Cloud to the next level. Jio has been reducing its initial offer of 100 GB free offer down to 50 GB, while Airtel has bundle access for six months to a trusted storage provider that, arguably, has more functional offerings that includes more than just storage.In today’s world, smartphones are the centre of our work and life, cloud storage is no longer a luxury, but a necessity.
With the consumption of cloud limits on WhatsApp backups and larger digital files, telecom players will have to look beyond inexpensive data to retain and engage users. Airtel’s partnership with Google signals a recognition of the value of cloud storage, married with functionality. The message is clear: the future of telecom is not just in the speed of networks, but in the speed of smarter digital partnerships.
Bharti Airtel has partnered with Google to give its postpaid and Airtel Wi-Fi users 100 GB of free cloud storage via Google One for six months, ramping up competition in the digital services arena. This is in direct response to Reliance Jio’s cloud storage offer of 100 GB, which has now been cut back to 50 GB, with no validity period.
With the partnership leveraging the trusted Google ecosystem, users can also use the storage options across Google Photos, Google Drive, Gmail, and even WhatsApp backups, which Jio’s AI Cloud does not offer yet.
“Storage has become a major concern now with users using smartphones as their primary device for handling personal and professional information.” Siddharth Sharma, Director of Marketing and CEO – Connected Homes of Bharti Airtel said. “This partnership brings an additional 100 GB storage for millions of our postpaid and Wi-Fi customers and will ease this concern.”
Users can share the storage with up to another five people. After the six months free offer, Airtel users can continue the Google One subscription for ₹125 per month, which is slightly lower than Google’s charge of ₹130 per month for the same plan after any default 15 from GB has been exhausted, whereas Google directly offers a promotional price of ₹35 per month for the first three months after or if the user exceeds the free tier.
Karen Teo, Vice President, Platforms & Devices Partnerships, APAC at Google, said the collaboration aims to make digital storage more accessible. “Together, we will make it easier for our users to safely back up photos, videos and important files on their phones with more storage across Google Photos, Drive, Gmail and more,” she said.
As of March 2025, Bharti Airtel had 25.8 million postpaid users out of a total mobile subscriber base of 361.6 million in India. With cloud storage emerging as a new battleground for telecom players, partnerships like these signal a broader shift towards value-added services in the highly competitive telecom market.
As of March-end, Airtel had 25.8 million postpaid users in India, out of its 361.6 million mobile consumers.
While the AI Cloud from Reliance Jio has continued to provide general data backup, it was first announced in the free service offering of 100 GB as part of its AGM last August, though it has since been quietly changed to 50GB and there are no details regarding its expiry date.
Cloud storage has become an increasingly competitive and crowded space as telecom service providers seek to distinguish themselves further than voice and data plans to bundled digital propositions for their increasingly cloud-dependent consumers.
About The Author
