Bharti Airtel (Airtel), India’s premier communications solutions provider, on Tuesday announced the launch of its video platform, Airtel IQ Video, as a service. The solution has been developed by Airtel’s in-house engineering teams.

By leveraging Airtel’s resilient cloud, and cutting-edge video technologies, Airtel IQ Video would allow businesses to build world-class video streaming products for large and small screens with minimal investment in infrastructure and technology.

Airtel IQ Video is an end-to-end managed solution that brings convenience along with cost benefits. It encompasses a variety of features ranging from app development, content hosting, curation, and lifecycle management to search and discovery, analytics, and monetization models (advertising, subscriptions, transactions), the company said in an official statement.

Raj TV has used Airtel IQ Video to take the OTT route to increasingly serve digitally savvy consumers.

M Raajhendhran, Managing Director at Raj Television Network, said, “We had a content library of over 30,000 hours with some of the best Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam films. But most of this content was on tapes/analog formats and audiences also want to access these through OTT.

“Using Airtel IQ Video, we have been able to digitize our content, host it on Airtel’s cloud platforms and offer it to audiences both in India and across the globe through our own OTT app. Importantly, we have been able to achieve this at the fraction of the cost at a very quick time with access to the best technology that has ensured the user experience is excellent. We look forward to deepening our relationship with Airtel.”

According to RBSA Advisors, India’s video OTT market is expected to touch USD 12.5 billion by 2030 from the present USD 1.5 billion. The report also highlighted that the next wave of growth in the OTT landscape will come from tier II, III, and IV cities and regional languages will be at the center of this growth story.

Keeping these changing trends, regional OTT platforms are looking to scale their technology to accommodate the rising number of users. Traditional content providers, such as regional TV broadcasters, are looking to digitize their content libraries through OTT applications.

Launching the Airtel IQ Video, Adarsh Nair, Chief Product Officer, Bharti Airtel, said, “Airtel IQ Video brings an easy-to-use platform that can enable anyone to quickly build and scale their business in video streaming. This will encourage enterprises to focus on content while Airtel IQ Video anchors the end-to-end technology ensuring a great viewing experience for customers. With Airtel IQ Video, we expect to see more content start-ups and traditional content companies coming online and directly engaging with consumers digitally.”

During the beta phase, Airtel IQ Video has also been deployed by Eros Now and CG Telecom of Nepal. Airtel is expecting to onboard 50+ brands on the platform in the coming year as interest from the market has been high.

Speaking on the platform launch, Niravana Chaudhary, Managing Director, CG Group, said, “We have aspirations to launch a cutting-edge IPTV and Video OTT platform as part of our telco offering in Nepal. Airtel’s proven execution in video-based offerings with Airtel Xstream and keen understanding of a telecom company paved the way for our partnership. Airtel IQ Video will power both our Video OTT app and IPTV, bringing seamless streaming to our customers in Nepal on devices of their choice.”