Bharti Airtel to offer free subscription to Encyclopaedia Britannica online

New Delhi: India's largest telecom operator Bharti Airtel today said that it had entered into an exclusive partnership with Encyclopaedia Britannica to offer a free two-year subscription to its online edittion to all its broadband subcribers. The free subscription is worth Rs6,575.

Britannica, which has over 100 million users globally including 4,750 universities allows customers and members of the public to contribute to the encyclopedia for review, by its panel of eminent scholars including Nobel laureates, as part of its unique collaborative tools.

''Our partnership with Encyclopaedia Britannica is part of our larger commitment to offer an enhanced broadband experience to our customers, especially to children and the young adults," says K. Srinivas joint president, Telemedia Services, Bharti Airtel. "Encyclopaedia Britannica has created a huge body of content for Indian audiences in art, culture, cinema, education across various mediums and is in line with our commitment of partnering the world's best for offering innovative content for customers.''

According to Jorge Cauz, president Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc, "Britannica Online contains rich information along with rich multimedia, and that makes it an excellent match for Bharti Airtel's broadband service. India is one of the largest English speaking markets and is an important market to EB's expansion plans in the Asia Pacific. We believe the Indian broadband users will enjoy EB's rich, up-to-date and accurate information and we welcome their active participation as part of our growing community. As broadband become more widely available in India, we hope that more families can enjoy EB's various online services and share the knowledge we are committed to provide more than 240 years. This agreement is an important step in that direction."

The partnership comes on the back of Bharti Airtel's initiatives to enhance broadband experience through innovative offerings like high-speed Experience Plans, Cloud Computing and a host of value added services.