Perplexity and Airtel announce a partnership

Decision brief

What changed

Perplexity partnered with Indian telecom Airtel to give away 12 months of Perplexity Pro (normally $200) to Airtel's 360 million customers starting July 2025, with new redemptions ending January 2026; this drove 56 million app downloads over seven months and grew Perplexity's India revenue from $34,000/month in January 2025 to $156,000/month by July 2026, with monthly active users stabilizing at 14 million after the free offer expired.

Why it matters

This is a case study in using telecom distribution partnerships to acquire massive user bases cheaply and convert a subset to paid subscriptions, a model other AI companies and their partners may replicate. For leaders, it signals a viable customer-acquisition playbook in price-sensitive, high-population markets like India, but also raises questions about long-term monetization economics once free access ends and infrastructure costs for serving tens of millions of new free users.

Affected roles

CEO CMO CFO CTO

Evidence

The account comes from a single TechCrunch AI article reporting figures (downloads, revenue, MAU) that appear to be self-reported or company-sourced, with no independent verification or corroborating outlets in this coverage set.

What remains uncertain

It is unclear what fraction of the 14 million stabilized MAUs are paying customers versus free-tier users, how much of the revenue growth is directly attributable to auto-renewals versus new conversions, and whether these self-reported metrics have been independently audited. The sustainability of the revenue increase after the January 2026 redemption cutoff and whether the Airtel partnership will be renewed or expanded are also unknown.

Monitor next

Watch for Perplexity's or Airtel's disclosures on post-trial conversion and retention rates in the months following the January 2026 redemption deadline.

Analytical support, not advice — assumptions and open questions stated above.

Source coverage