“AI will transform every industry, but the ones that harness data effectively will lead the way.” – Andrew Ng, AI pioneer and co-founder of Coursera
Reimagining customer service through AI
Bharti Airtel, India’s second-largest telecom provider, has quietly been building six artificial intelligence (AI) agents to revolutionize customer engagement across billing, payments, and support. The company aims to make its ‘Airtel Thanks’ app the primary hub for all customer interactions and problem-solving.
Building the agentic core
Over the past 18 months, Airtel has been integrating AI into its daily operations through its subsidiary, XTelify. Each AI agent is powered by Airtel’s proprietary data platform, enabling automation across functions like buying, billing, and service resolution. The long-term vision is to create a unified AI layer managing all customer interactions seamlessly.
AI as the new frontline
Executives close to the project say that these AI systems will soon act as the first point of contact, much like ChatGPT or Gemini, where users can ask anything and get contextual, data-driven answers. Airtel’s AI agents are being designed to talk to each other, cross-analyze data, and provide optimized solutions instantly.
Reducing costs, raising experiences
By infusing AI into operations and support systems, Airtel has reportedly reduced IT costs to 1.5% of overall revenue, significantly below global telecom averages. The company’s partnership with Perplexity AI further enhances this ecosystem, improving both customer and employee experiences.
Leading the telecom AI race
Airtel’s AI-powered XTelify platform has already found clients in Singtel and Globe Telecom. With its multi-agent strategy, Airtel is positioning itself as a pioneer of “agentic AI” in telecom—a move likely to reshape global customer experience benchmarks.
Summary
Bharti Airtel is developing six AI agents under its XTelify platform to transform how customers interact with the company. By centralizing its digital ecosystem and automating service through intelligent agents, Airtel is setting new global standards in telecom AI transformation.
Food for thought
Will AI agents soon replace human-led customer support completely—or just make it more human?
AI concept to learn: AI agents
AI agents are intelligent systems designed to act autonomously on behalf of users, performing tasks, making recommendations, or interacting with other systems. They combine perception, reasoning, and action to deliver efficient, context-aware responses in real time.
[The Research Team at Billion Hopes brings to you latest AI news and developments in a useful format. Feedback welcome!]
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