Airtel to pump in Rs 6,000 crore more in Karnataka

Telecom major Bharti Airtel is planning to invest another Rs 6,000 crore in Karnataka, and has also offered the government to use its services for automated meter reading (AMR) that can reduce the time taken to generate power bills.
The firm’s plans were presented before the state government at a virtual meeting between Rakesh Bharti Mittal, vice chairman, Bharti Enterprises, and chief minister BS Yediyurappa on Thursday evening. “The firm discussed some of the issues they face in the state and presented their plan to expand their investment, primarily to boost telecom infrastructure,” a source who was present at the meeting said.
Industries commissioner Gunjan Krishna said that the firm already has investment worth Rs 30,000 crore in Karnataka and is planning to invest another Rs 6,000 crore to enhance infrastructure and augment broadband connectivity.
“…We additionally proposed that they also look at setting up data centres, look at electronic equipment and device manufacturing and also renewable energy,” Gaurav Gupta, principal secretary, industries department, said.