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Bharti Airtel has agreed to partner with US-based telecom company Verizon to launch a video conferencing service aimed at businesses in the world’s second largest internet market.
“We are delighted to collaborate with Verizon to bring Airtel Blue Jeans to enterprise and SMB customers in India,” Gopal Vittal, MD and CEO of Bharti Airtel said in a statement.
Bharti Airtel claims that its virtual meeting platform has high enterprise-level security and is easy to use. The security features include encrypted calls, secure transmission and storage, locking meetings with passwords, generating random meeting IDs, fraud detection and different authentication options.
Blue Jeans is said to offer low latency, HD video and Dolby voice, and allows up to 50,000 participants in a single call. Users are not required to install any app to host or join meetings. They can simply visit the website, and start hosting or participate in meetings.
Users can explore the service by opting for a free trial on Airtel’s website by registering online, and submitting their details. The company will activate the free trial within 24 hours, and send an email to change the password.
Businesses are allowed to use the service for free for the first three months after the initial registration. Airtel did not disclose pricing details after the free trial period ends.
Airtel’s Blue Jeans announcement comes just two weeks after its rival and market leader Reliance Jio launched its video conferencing app that has already roped in over 40 crore subscribers.
The newest video conferencing service may not be in direct competition existing ones, like Google Meet, Microsoft teams and Zoom, as Blue Jeans is targeted toward enterprise customers.
Video conferencing platforms are on the rise in India as demand for virtual meetings has spiked due to coronavirus-related shelter-at-home restrictions in the country. Google’s virtual meeting platform Meet has more than 40 crore downloads, and Microsoft Teams has over 7.5 crore downloads.
“We are proud to come together with Airtel to help more Indian organisations benefit from our world-class communication product during this work-from-home era and beyond,” Hans Vestberg, CEO of Verizon said in a statement.
Blue Jeans, Verizon’s video conferencing service can be accessed on mobile phones, desktop browsers and in conference rooms.
