Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio have both stepped up their artificial intelligence (AI) offerings, marking one of the biggest shifts in India’s telecom market as operators begin bundling premium AI services at massive scale. Airtel’s Perplexity partnership covers its entire customer base, while Jio has widened access to Google’s Gemini Pro Plan with the latest Gemini 3 upgrade.
Earlier this year, Airtel partnered with Perplexity to offer a 12-month Perplexity Pro subscription at no additional cost to all 360 million of its mobile, broadband and DTH customers. The plan, valued at around Rs 17,000 annually, brings advanced AI research tools, model selection, file upload support, image generation and deeper search capabilities to users directly through the Airtel Thanks app.
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The move effectively makes Bharti Airtel the first telecom operator in the country to distribute a professional-grade AI assistant at such a large scale. The company’s approach also goes beyond traditional value-added services by integrating AI directly into its cross platform ecosystem, allowing users to access the tool irrespective of their mobile or broadband plan. With Perplexity Pro’s citation-backed responses and real-time research capabilities, the partnership signals a push towards enhancing productivity and information access for millions of Indians.
Reliance Jio, meanwhile, has expanded its own AI proposition by opening eligibility for the Gemini Pro Plan now powered by Google’s latest Gemini 3 model to its entire Unlimited 5G user base. Previously a youth-focused offer, the plan is now available to all 5G customers for 18 months at no extra cost. The bundled subscription carries a value of Rs 35,100 for the full period.
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The upgrade to Gemini 3 enhances the service with improved reasoning, faster processing and better multilingual and visual understanding. Jio users can activate the offer instantly through the MyJio app, with the rollout effective from 19 November 2025.
Taken together, the announcements mark the beginning of a new phase in the Indian telecom sector where AI becomes a central differentiator rather than a supplementary feature. Airtel’s full base benefit with Perplexity Pro positions it as an early mover in mass AI adoption, while Jio’s Gemini 3 upgrade strengthens its proposition for high usage 5G customers.
As both operators scale their AI partnerships, the industry is shifting from data-centric plans to value layers built around intelligence, research capabilities and new digital tools. For consumers, this means premium AI access without the subscription costs traditionally associated with such services setting the stage for AI to become a mainstream part of the mobile experience in the 5G era.
