Bharti Airtel, a global telecommunications services provider with operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa, has announced that it will deliver Microsoft’s cloud based Office 365 business productivity solutions to small and medium businesses (SMBs) by provisioning the service through its cloud platform.

Under the agreement, Airtel will be able to power SMBs with access to Microsoft Office 365, addressing their connectivity and productivity requirements while allowing them to focus on their core business activities. Office 365 along with Airtel’s DSL and Internet Leased Ports/Lines (ILP) services will empower SMBs with the option to create a public facing website with their own domain name, access to the latest releases from Office 365, state-of-the art anti-virus and anti-spam solutions, and most importantly anytime, anywhere access to documents and emails, with best experience delivered on smart phones using Airtel’s network.

Sanjay Kapoor, CEO – India & South Asia, Bharti Airtel said, “We are delighted to partner with Microsoft to address the growing ICT needs of the SMB segment. The partnership will allow us to become a virtual CIO for our SMB customers. According to industry estimates there is a growing affinity towards technology adoption in this segment and their IT spending is surging at a rate of 15 percent per year. SMB segment has shown a high adoption of cloud computing especially SaaS - which contributes more than 50 percent to the overall cloud market. With our superior network experience and Microsoft’s dependable technology suite we will be able to offer cost effective and secure cloud services in a high growth SaaS market.”

Bhaskar Pramanik, Chairman, Microsoft India said, “We are pleased that Bharti Airtel will offer our world-class cloud productivity solution to SMBs in India. Agility, focus and cost are the key reasons why businesses are moving to a cloud and hence Microsoft’s partnership will allow Bharti Airtel’s customers to continue to stay ahead of the curve through solutions that truly fit their needs. The agreement will enable SMBs to take advantage of a secure cloud computing environment at an opex model based pricing.”