The country's largest telecommunications services provider, Bharti Airtel (Airtel), on Monday said it is partnering with taxi app aggregator Ola, to offer a range of exciting digital services to customers.
Both the companies will collaborate to deliver enhanced convenience for customers by leveraging the strengths of their respective portfolios, Airtel said in a statement.
Ola will leverage Airtel’s integrated suite of enterprise services to power its operations, while Airtel will leverage Ola’s vast network of hundreds and thousands of driver partners, it said.
“Both companies have strengths that complement each other and this offers massive scope to co-create exciting products and solutions for customers. Ola will also benefit from Airtel’s extensive retail network and our integrated suite of world-class connectivity solutions for businesses that help them drive growth through better efficiency," Gopal Vittal, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (India & South Asia), Bharti Airtel, said.
Airtel Payments Bank will be integrated with Ola app to offer convenient digital payments solutions to customers for their rides, the company said.
Ola Money will also be integrated as a digital payment solution within MyAirtel App and the Airtel website to enable recharge of Airtel prepaid mobile/DTH and payment of Airtel mobile/broadband bills through Ola Money.
Airtel retail points will assist customers looking to book an Ola ride through kiosks in these locations. Airtel will be able to leverage Ola’s massive base of driver partners, who will act as retail points for recharging Airtel prepaid numbers on the go, it said.
Content partnership
The partnership will also have Airtel and Ola build content solutions for the customers of Ola Play.
Airtel’s suite of entertainment offerings will be available on Ola Play, the world’s first connected car platform for ridesharing, in the form of exclusive content for Ola customers. Both partners will also work to offer a range of value-added services from Airtel stable to Ola customers over time.
“This first-of-its-kind partnership brings a host of offerings from two massive ecosystems together. Airtel will integrate its offerings across payments, content, PoS networks, and more with Ola’s offerings for its large customer and partner base," Bhavish Aggarwal, CEO and Co-founder at Ola, said.
He said this is a win-win for partners and customers of both brands, bringing increased convenience and access to mobility as well as connectivity at the same time.
In addition, enabling seamless connectivity for Ola’s driver partners, Airtel will facilitate migration of the Ola devices to Airtel 4G network.
Airtel has 4G services in all 22 telecom circles of India.