GoKawiilA Bharti Airtel office building pictured in Gurugram, on the outskirts of New Delhi.
India's telecom giant Bharti Airtel has raised $1 billion for its data center arm — Nxtra Data — from private equity firms Alpha Wave, Carlyle and Anchorage Capital, underscoring a growing global interest in the sector.
Bharti Airtel is India's second-largest telecom operator and the raise will value Nxtra Data at about $3.1 billon once the transaction closes, the company said in a stock exchange filing on Monday.
Nxtra Data will receive $435 million from Florida-headquartered Alpha Wave Global, $240 million from existing investor Washington-based Carlyle, and $35 million from New York City's Anchorage Capital, Airtel said, adding that it will contribute the remaining amount.
The fresh capital will support Nxtra's expansion across India, Airtel said.
Gopal Vittal, executive vice chairman of Airtel, said Nxtra has built "data center networks" aimed at meeting the evolving needs of enterprises, hyperscalers, and government clients.
Nxtra has around 300MW of data center capacity, which will be scaled to 1GW "in the next few years, targeting ~25% market share," he added. It currently has 14 large data centers and more than 120 smaller, decentralized facilities located closer to end users and devices.