rewrite this title and make it good for SEOAirtel and Tata Group in initial discussion to merge DTH business

Telecom major Bharti Airtel on Wednesday (February 26) said that it is in initial talks with the Tata Group for a potential merger between Tata Play’s Direct To Home business and its subsidiary Bharti Telemedia.

In clarification to a media report, Bharti Airtel through a stock market disclosure, informed, “We wish to submit that Bharti Airtel Limited (‘Airtel’) and TATA Group are in bilateral discussions to explore a potential transaction to achieve a combination of TATA Group’s Direct To Home (‘DTH’) business housed under Tata Play Limited, with Bharti Telemedia Limited, a subsidiary of Airtel, in a structure acceptable to all parties.”

However, the merger is in discussion stage only, it further added.

Airtel’s collaboration with Ericsson

In a separate BSE filing on Tuesday, Airtel has announced its collaboration with Ericsson to roll out 5G Standalone (SA) network technology. This partnership aims to enhance Airtel’s network capabilities, ensuring a seamless transition to a full-scale commercial 5G SA network over time.

The collaboration will enable Airtel to seamlessly transition to a commercially live, full-scale 5G Standalone network over time, bringing the high-end capabilities of 5G to their customers.

“Ericsson’s enduring partnership with Airtel has entered an exciting new phase, marked by the deployment of Ericsson’s 5G core solutions to support Airtel’s transition to 5G Standalone. This rollout will play a pivotal role in Airtel’s long-term 5G strategy, boosting network capacity and enabling the delivery of innovative, differentiated services to customers,” Airtel’s chief technology officer Randeep Sekhon said.

The new capabilities represent a strategic enhancement to Bharti Airtel’s 5G monetisation efforts, enabling the development of new business models, Ericsson said.

In the SA mode, the network is built only on 5G, whereas in the NSA mode, the 5G network operates as a top-up on an existing layer of the 4G and 3G radio network.

As part of the agreement, Ericsson will deploy its signalling controller solution within Airtel’s network. Ericsson’s 5G SA-enabled charging and policy solution will also be introduced. These new capabilities represent a strategic enhancement to Bharti Airtel’s 5G monetisation efforts, enabling the development of new business models.