Apple Joins Forces with Airtel to Expand Streaming Footprint in India

Apple has taken a bold step to solidify its presence in India’s booming streaming market by partnering with Bharti Airtel, the country’s second-largest telecom provider. This collaboration will provide millions of Airtel customers with free access to Apple Music and Apple TV+, giving the U.S. tech giant a significant boost in a market where it has traditionally struggled to gain traction.

Under the terms of the deal, Apple will offer its music and video streaming services to Airtel’s vast subscriber base, which numbers over 281 million. This move is expected to greatly increase the user base for Apple TV+ and Apple Music in India, a country where the company has primarily focused on manufacturing to diversify its supply chain beyond China.

According to industry experts, this partnership marks a crucial strategic shift for Apple, which has seen its share of India’s smartphone market grow modestly to 6% in recent years. By leveraging Airtel’s distribution network, Apple aims to accelerate its growth in the Indian content market, where it currently lags behind competitors like Spotify and Walt Disney.

Apple’s partnership with Airtel is reminiscent of its strategy in the U.S., where it has successfully offered Apple Music through Verizon and will soon include Apple TV+ in a Comcast streaming bundle. In India, the company is looking to replicate this success by making Apple Music available to premium users of Airtel’s Wynk music app, which is slated for closure.

While this partnership is poised to significantly expand Apple’s reach in India, the company still faces stiff competition. In the Indian music streaming market, Spotify leads with 3 million paid users, followed by Gaana with 1.4 million, while Apple Music trails with 200,000 subscribers. Similarly, Apple TV+ remains a small player in the video streaming space, with fewer than one million users compared to Disney+ Hotstar’s 38 million.