Que: How is Airtel Business contributing to the Smart Meter National Program and what challenges have you faced in integrating Airtel’s IoT solutions with existing grid infrastructure?

Ans: We are one of the leading companies in connectivity space and the largest in cellular IoT with a revenue market share of 56.7%. Our network has 40 million connected devices powering a plethora of use cases such as Connected Auto (Conventional/ Electric Vehicles), Smart Metering, Smart Logistics, Asset Monitoring, Energy Management amongst others. For Airtel, IoT is amongst the fastest growing categories in the B2B segment with a lot of leadership focus on growth.

Cellular IoT operates on the same principles as our core mobile business. Basic idea is that a cellular network, which enables mobile phone connectivity, is also capable of connecting devices, wherever they are. This can be done through various radio technologies, which have evolved over time, namely 2G, 4G, 5G and NB-IoT or Narrow Band IoT, which is designed for IoT specific use cases.

There has been a lot of work on software as well as network side to bring us where we are and we are continuing to improve and advance. For example, we have created a platform called IoT Hub specifically designed for our IoT customers to centrally manage and control their devices deployed on the field. On the network side, we are building an ‘IoT grade’ network, which means that our network is being designed to support the scale and behaviour of IoT devices. We are also rolling out NB-IoT, a technology designed to support low throughput devices needing long battery life and extended coverage. We are also bringing in many network analytics on our platform, empowering our customers with real time information on quality and availability of network to help them with deeper insights on behavior of their devices on field.

We have also developed tools customized for large scale implementations which act as enablers for customers in the utilities space. This includes the ability to do deployment feasibility from the Airtel platform thus helping the customers save critical resources by avoiding expensive field surveys.

The primary challenges we face while integrating our IoT solutions are integration of new IoT solutions with existing legacy systems within the existing grid infrastructure can present significant hurdles in contrast to new smart metering technology, requiring careful planning and coordination.

For instance, Airtel has developed tools customized for large scale implementations such as the ability to do deployment feasibility from the platform which helps our customers save critical resources by avoiding expensive field surveys. Lastly, we have built analytics tools which enable our customers to effectively track and monitor their communications uptimes and SLAs.

Que: How does Airtel’s IoT network ensure seamless and secure communication between smart meters and utility providers?

Ans: Cellular IoT provides utilities with a standards-based communication offering for connecting the meters which ensures there are no interoperability challenges between different service providers. This also safeguards the deployments from vendor specific proprietary implementations which may prove to be unviable in the long run. Another key benefit of licensed cellular networks is the plug and play nature of the offering. These networks do not require customers to incur any upfront capex for network roll-out, and eliminates costs, challenges associated with deploying, managing and operating these proprietary networks. Additionally, our ‘IoT grade’ network is specifically designed to handle the scale and behavior of IoT devices, ensuring reliability and seamless connectivity for smart meters across challenging environments. By integrating this secure, reliable network infrastructure with its cloud capabilities, Airtel ensures real-time, secure data transmission from smart meters to utility providers. Therefore, by providing a combination of secure communication technologies, centralized management tools, and scalable infrastructure; we improve data analytics and overall operational efficiency.

In addition, our IoT Hub platform enables customers to remotely manage and control the SIMs and devices deployed on the field. The platform gives customers complete control on all aspects of the SIM lifecycle – provisioning, billing and payment, network configuration, issue management and support.

Que: What role does Airtel IoT play in predictive maintenance and outage management?

Ans: Our IoT services play a key role in predictive maintenance and outage management through real-time monitoring and data analytics.

Airtel has developed tools customized for large scale implementations such as the ability to do deployment feasibility and do network availability visualisation from the Airtel IoT platform. This helps our smart utilities customers save critical resources by avoiding expensive field surveys.

Our IoT connectivity also ensures the detection of potential issues before they occur, as the platform provides valuable insights into power consumption patterns enabling utilities to receive immediate alerts and data on any disruptions, commissioning rapid response and more effective issue resolution. This proactive approach enhances grid reliability, minimizes the duration and impact of power outages, which in turn improves overall operational efficiency.

Additionally, our award-winning connectivity management platform – IoTHub offers customers a complete control of their SIM lifecycle – activation/ deactivation, billing and payment, network configurations, service requests – and is at the heart of our engagement with IoT customers. The platform is developed and managed by Airtel’s in-house engineering and network teams. This enables us to nimbly adapt to any customisation which are customers may need to successfully deploy their IoT solutions. Airtel has also built an analytics platform which enable our customers to effectively track and monitor their communications uptimes and SLAs. For smart metering, the platform uses the actual field deployment data of every meter (consumer indexing and meter indexing) which flows through to Airtel via a deep integration with the AMISPs information systems (Workforce Management application). Furthermore, the Airtel analytics platform also ingests actual meter performance parameters from the Head End Systems including power events enabling Airtel to proactively understand the connectivity performance and resolve issues before they impact the system uptime.

We have invested in building a strong pool of engineers which means we are able to work in a co-development model for our customers. For instance, in the Fintech space, we have built a solution which uses data and SMS in parallel to enable voice confirmation in parallel. For the Auto segment, we have built advanced split billing solutions, which allows OEMs to share connectivity costs with the car owners. Then there is ‘Always-on–connectivity’ solution which ensure 100% reliable connectivity via a smart applet in areas where our network may be deficient.

Another example is where we have made the vanilla SMS programmable which enables our customers to configure, manage or perform heath check of their devices over APIs. In the Utility space, we are building advanced tools for visibility into our network KPIs to help them make deployment decisions and meet government-mandated SLAs. Some of these solutions the industry had been demanding for long and we are the first ones to stitch them for our customers.

Que: How has Airtel’s IoT solution helped improve billing efficiency and reduce power theft?

Ans: Through our smart metering infrastructure, our IoT solution has made a substantial contribution towards lowering power theft and increasing billing efficiency. Smart meters integrated with Airtel's IoT network allow for real-time data transmission, giving utilities precise and current consumption data analysis. This improves billing efficiency and accuracy by eliminating manual readings, reduces human error, and ensures that customers are billed based on actual usage rather than estimated readings.

Our IoT solution provides instant alerts and data analytics allowing for quick identification of unauthorized usage, in turn enabling prompt intervention and reducing losses. The secure, licensed cellular network further enhances the reliability of data, preventing tampering and ensuring that utilities can effectively track and manage power distribution. We have built the capability to offer Head End System (HES) applications, Meter Data Management (MDM) applications and prepaid billing software as a bundled offering with IoT connectivity, with the applications being hosted on Airtel cloud.

Que: How do you see the smart meter landscape evolving in India over the next decade, and what role will Airtel play in this transformation?

Ans: Today, smart meter rollouts are happening at a very rapid pace in India. Currently, more than 222 million smart meters have been sanctioned. Of these 222 million meters, around 138 million have been awarded and only around 22 million meters have been made live. This means that there remains a tremendous amount of work to be done. I think over the past 10 years the Government has already taken significant measures to improve the financial health of the DISCOMs to ensure India’s energy security. Government of India has been providing funds to the states for implementation of smart metering under National Smart Grid Mission (NSGM) and Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS).

Further, the mandate of Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS) to implement prepaid smart meters is a game changer and will improve the quality and reliability of power supply to consumers. Being an incentive-based scheme RDSS targets financial sustainability of DISCOMs while providing support for upgradation of the distribution infrastructure and smart metering systems.

Another important and pro-consumer measure announced by the Government last year was the introduction of Time of Day (ToD) tariff structure which can help consumers reduce their electricity bills by effective planning of their consumption during non-peak hours. ToD tariff will also improve the management of renewable generation fluctuations, and the system load factor by reducing the demand on the system during peak period.

While all these initiatives are visionary, successful adoption and timely implementation will be imperative. This requires a tremendous push on account of consumer education and awareness, which will need to be a joint responsibility of both the Government and the DISCOMs.