Apple eyes bigger slice of India's streaming market with Airtel deal

Apple is tying up with India's Airtel to offer the telecom firm's premium customers its music and video streaming services for free, potentially giving the U.S. firm access to thousands of consumers in a price-sensitive market.

The move comes as competition tightens in India's $28-billion entertainment market and an $8.5-billion merger of the Indian media assets of Reliance and Walt Disney faces close scrutiny from regulators.

"Apple TV+ will come bundled with premium Airtel WiFi and Postpaid plans," Airtel said in a statement on Tuesday, though the companies did not disclose a deal value for the partnership or information on costs.

With mostly English-language content, Apple TV+ is a small player in the Indian market, where its rivals include Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ Hotstar and billionaire Mukesh Ambani's JioCinema.

Apple is following competitors in bundling streaming services with telecom plans to grow its audience more quickly.

Premium users of Airtel's broadband and postpaid services can access Apple TV+ and Apple Music later this year as part of their plans.

Airtel will shut its music app Wynk in this process, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Airtel has about 281 million subscribers for its India telecom offerings, while its top rival, Ambani's Reliance Jio, has about 489 million.