The Charminar in Hyderabad, India, as seen from the Laad Bazaar. Photo: Flickr, McKay Savage.

SK Telecom and Bharti Airtel have announced a strategic partnership under which Airtel will leverage SK Telecom’s expertise to build an advanced telecom network in India.

The partnership will work across several areas including developing bespoke software to dramatically improve network experience, leveraging advanced digital tools including machine learning, Big Data and building customized tools to improve network planning based on every customer’s device experience. According to Airtel, the capacity to identify, monitor and deliver improvements to the network experience on an individual device basis will be a first in India.

The two companies will also collaborate on an on-going basis to evolve standards for 5G, Network Functions Virtualization (NFV), Software-defined Networking (SDN) and Internet of Things (IoT), and jointly work toward building an enabling ecosystem for the introduction of these technologies in the Indian context.