India Cloud War, Amazon vs MS: Who Will Be the Winner?

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] Amazon and Microsoft (MS), ranked 1st and 2nd in the cloud business industry, are set to compete in India, the world's second-largest online market after China. About a year after MS announced a cloud business partnership with Reliance Jio, India's top telecommunications company, Amazon has challenged the Indian cloud market by signing a cooperation agreement with Bharti Airtel, the country's second-largest telecom operator.

Bharti Airtel, the second-largest telecommunications company in India, recently announced its partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS), Amazon's cloud business division, at a press conference.

Harthin Mehta, Head of Cloud at Bharti Airtel, stated, "We have decided to form a deep partnership with AWS," adding, "This will be a very solid collaboration."

Through this partnership, Bharti Airtel, which has 300 million subscribers, plans to provide various cloud services ranging from data migration to analysis via AWS. Amazon aims to accelerate its penetration into the Indian market through collaboration with local companies.

Puneet Chandok, Head of Amazon Commercial Business India, said, "This is an enormous opportunity," and added, "The COVID-19 pandemic has proven that digital transformation is no longer optional."

According to the global market research firm International Data Corporation, the Indian public cloud market is expected to reach $7 billion (approximately 8.3 trillion KRW) by 2024.

Cloud analyst Rishu Sharma commented, "There is a large-scale adoption of cloud services due to COVID-19," and predicted, "This partnership is likely to trigger a price war in cloud services, with future focus on better contracts, pricing, and ensuring optimal customer service."

Meanwhile, according to market research firm Canalys, AWS holds 32.4% of the global cloud market, MS Azure 17.6%, and Google Cloud and China's Alibaba each hold 6%.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.