Bharti Airtel
Bharti Airtel Limited
Industry Telecommunications
Founded 7 July 1995
Founder(s) Sunil Bharti Mittal
Headquarters New Delhi, India
Area servedSouth Asian & African countries and the Channel Islands
Products
Mobile networkWirelessTelephoneInternetSatellite television
Revenue35,699.27 crore
(US$7.75 billion) (2009)
Operating income
14,589.33 crore (US$3.17 billion) (2009)
Profit9,426.16 crore
(US$2.05 billion) (2009)
Total assetsUS$ 11.853 billion
(2009)
Employees 30,000 (2010)
Bharti Airtel Limited, usually referred to simply as "airtel", is a Indian telecommunications company that operates in 19 countries across South Asia, Africa and the Channel Islands. It operates a GSM network in all countries, providing 2G or 3G services depending upon the country of operation. Airtel is the fifth largest telecom operator in the world with over 200 million subscribers as of October 2010. It is the largest cellular service provider in India, with over 143 million subscribers as of September 30, 2010. Airtel is the 3rd largest in-country mobile operator by subscriber base, behind China Mobile and China Unicom. It has a 29.00% market share of the GSM mobile service in India.
Airtel also offers fixed line services and broadband services. It offers its telecom services under the Airtel brand and is headed by Sunil Bharti Mittal. Bharti Airtel is the first Indian telecom service provider to achieve this Cisco Gold Certification. To earn Gold Certification, Bharti Airtel had to meet rigorous standards for networking competency, service, support and customer satisfaction set forth by
Cisco. The company also provides land-line telephone services and broadband Internet access (DSL) in over 96 cities in India. It also acts as a carrier for national and international long distance communication services. The company has a submarine cable landing station at Chennai, which connects the submarine cable connecting Chennai and Singapore.
It is known for being the first mobile phone company in the world to outsource everything except marketing and sales and finance. Its network (base stations, microwave links, etc.) is maintained by Ericsson, Nokia Siemens Network and Huawei. business support by IBM and transmission towers by another company (Bharti Infratel Ltd. in India). Ericsson agreed for the first time, to be paid by the minute for installation and maintenance of their equipment rather than being paid up front. This enabled the company to provide pan-India phone call rates of Rs. 1/minute (U$0.02/minute). Call rates have come down much further. During the last financial year [2009-10], Bharti has roped in a strategic partner Alcatel-Lucent to manage the network infrastructure for the Telemedia Business.
The company is structured into four strategic business units - Mobile, Telemedia, Enterprise and Digital TV. The Telemedia business provides broadband, IPTV and telephone services in 89 Indian cities. The Digital TV business provides Direct-to-Home TV services across India. The Enterprise business provides end-to-end telecom solutions to corporate customers and national and international long distance services to telcos.
In January 2010, company announced that Manoj Kohli, Joint Managing Director and current Chief Executive Officer of Indian and South Asian operations, will become the Chief Executive Officer of the International Business Group from 1 April 2010. He will be overseeing Bharti's overseas business. Current Dy. CEO, Sanjay Kapoor, will replace Manoj Kohli and will be the CEO, effective from 1 April 2010.
History
Sunil Bharti Mittal founded the Bharti Group. In 1983, Sunil Mittal was into an agreement with Germany's Siemens to manufacture the company's push-button telephone models for the Indian market. In 1986, Sunil Bharti Mittal incorporated Bharti Telecom Limited (BTL) and his company became the first in India to offer push-button telephones, establishing the basis of Bharti Enterprises. This first-mover advantage allowed Sunil Mittal to expand his manufacturing capacity elsewhere in the telecommunications market. By the early 1990s, Sunil Mittal had also launched the country's first fax machines and its first cordless telephones. In 1992, Sunil Mittal won a bid to build a cellular phone network in Delhi. In 1995, Sunil Mittal incorporated the cellular operations as Bharti Tele-Ventures and launched service in Delhi. In 1996, cellular service was extended to Himachal Pradesh. In 1999, Bharti Enterprises acquired control of JT Holdings, and extended cellular operations to Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. In 2000, Bharti acquired control of Skycell Communications, in Chennai. In 2001, the company acquired control of Spice Cell in Calcutta. Bharti Enterprises went public in 2002, and the company was listed on Mumbai Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange of India. In 2003, the cellular phone operations were rebranded under the single Airtel brand. In 2004, Bharti acquired control of Hexacom and entered Rajasthan. In 2005, Bharti extended its network to Andaman and Nicobar.
In 2009, Airtel launched its first international mobile network in Sri Lanka. In 2010, Airtel began operating in Bangladesh and 16 African countries.
Today, Airtel is the largest cellular service provider in India and fifth largest in the world.
Worldwide Presence
Coverage map of Bharti Airtel across 19 countries
Airtel is the 5th largest mobile operator in the world in terms of subscriber base and has a commercial presence in 19 countries and the Channel Islands.
Its area of operations include:
3 countries in the Indian Subcontinent:
Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka
16 countries in Africa:
Burkina Faso, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
Channel Islands :
Jersey and Guernsey
Airtel operates on the British Crown Dependency islands of Jersey and Guernsey, under the brand name Airtel-Vodafone, through an agreement with Vodafone.
Airtel operates in the following countries:
Country Site Remarks
Bangladesh
bd.airtel.com
In January 2010, Bharti Airtel Limited, Asia’s leading integrated telecom services provider, acquired 70% stake in Warid Telecom, Bangladesh, a subsidiary of the UAE-based Abu Dhabi Group. This is Bharti Airtel’s second operation outside of India.
On December 20, 2010, Warid Telecom rebranded to airtel.Airtel Bangladesh covers the entire country and has over 4 million customers.
Burkina Faso
africa.airtel.com/burkina
Airtel Burkina Faso is the dominant player with 1,433,000 customers representing 50% market share.
Chad africa.airtel.com/chadAirtel Chad is the no. 1 operator with 69% market share.
Democrat africa.airtel.com/drc
ic Republic of the Congo
Gabon africa.airtel.com/gabon
The rapidly growing mobile sector in Gabon grew by 16.5 percent from 2007 to 2008 according to statistics from the Bank of Central African States. Airtel Gabon has 829,000 customers and its market share stood at 61%.
Ghana africa.airtel.com/ghanaAirtel Ghana has over 1 million customers.
India airtel.in
Airtel is the market leader with almost 150 million customers at the end of 2010.
Kenya africa.airtel.com/kenyaAirtel Kenya is the second largest operator and has 4 million customers.
Madagascar
africa.airtel.com/madagascar
Airtel holds second place in the mobile telecom market in Madagascar, has a 39% market share and over 1.4 million customers.
Malawi africa.airtel.com/malawiAirtel Malawi is the market leader with a market share of 72%.
Niger africa.airtel.com/nigerAirtel Niger is the market leader with a 68% market share.
Nigeria ng.airtel.com
Republic of the Congo
africa.airtel.com/congobAirtel Congo is the market leader with a 55% market share.
Seychelles africa.airtel.com/seychelles Airtel is the leading
comprehensive telecommunications services providers with over 55% market share of mobile market in Seychelles.
Sierra Leone
africa.airtel.com/sierra
Sri Lanka airtel.lk
Airtel Lanka commenced operations on 12 January 2009. It has over 1.4 million mobile customers.
Tanzania africa.airtel.com/sierraAirtel Tanzania is the market leader with a 38% market share.
Uganda africa.airtel.com/ugandaAirtel Uganda stands as the no. 2 operator with a market share of 38%.
Zambia africa.airtel.com/zambiaChannel Islands : Jersey and
Guernsey†
airtel-vodafone.je
Airtel operates in the Channel Islands under the brand name Airtel-Vodafone through an agreement with Vodafone.
Airtel in India
Mobile
Airtel has nationwide presence and is the market leader with a market share of almost completely(as of May 2010). It is 6th most valued brand according to an annual survey conducted by Brand Finance and The Economic Times in 2010.
On 19 October 2004, Airtel announced the launch of a BlackBerry Wireless Solution in India. The launch is a result of a tie-up between Bharti Tele-Ventures Limited and Research In Motion (RIM).
The Apple iPhone 3G was rolled out in India on 22 August 2008 by Airtel & Vodafone. Both the cellular service providers rolled out their Apple iPhone 3GS in the first quarter of 2010. However, high prices and contract bonds discouraged consumers and it was not as successful for both the service providers as much as the iPhone is successful in other markets of the world.
3G
On May 18, 2010, 3G spectrum auction was completed and Airtel will have to pay the Indian government 12,295 crore (US$2.67 billion) for spectrum in 13 circles, the most amount spent by an operator in this auction. Airtel won 3G licences in 13 telecom circles of India: Delhi, Mumbai, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh (east), Rajasthan, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Assam, North East, Jammu & Kashmir.
On 20 September 2010, Bharti Airtel said that it has given contracts to Ericsson India, Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) and Huawei Technologies to set up infrastructure for providing 3G services in the country. These vendors will plan, design, deploy and maintain 3G-HSPA (third generation, high speed packet access) networks in 13 telecom circles where the company has won 3G licences. While Bharti Airtel has awarded network contracts for seven 3G circles to Ericsson India, NSN would manage networks in three circles. Chinese telecom equipment vendor Huawei Technologies has been introduced as the third partner for three circles.
On January 24, 2011, Airtel launched limited 3G service in Bangalore, Karnataka - its largest circle by revenue. With this launch & On January 27, 2011, Airtel launched limited 3G in Chennai and Coimbatore after following launch of Bangalore & Karnataka Circles .Bharti Airtel becomes the third private operator (fifth overall) to launch its 3G services in the country following Reliance Communications and Tata Docomo.
The operator will is expected to launch 3G services across 40 cities (11 of which are expected to be in Karnataka) in 13 telecom circles by March 2011. Airtel plans to cover 1,500 cities across these 13 circles by the end of March 2012. The company, which has 3G licences for 13 circles, is also in talks with other service providers to roll out the services in the remaining 10 circles as part of its roaming offerings.
Telemedia
The Telemedia business provides services in 89 Indian cities and consists of two brands.
Airtel Broadband provides broadband and IPTV services. Airtel provides both capped as well as unlimited download plans [reduced speeds at unlimited data are implied]. The maximum speed available for home users is 16Mbps.
Airtel Fixed Line which provides fixed line services.
Airtel has about 3.16 million wireline customers, of which 42.6% are broadband/internet subscribers as of August 2010.Until September 18, 2004, Bharti provided fixed-line telephony and broadband services under the Touchtel brand. Bharti now provides all telecom services including fixed-line services under a common brand "Airtel".
.
Subscriber Base worldwide
Bharti Airtel has crossed the 200 million wireless subscribers mark worldwide. The announcement was made by Sunil Bharti Mittal on 18 November 2010. Out of the 200
million subscribers, 150 million are out of India, 43 million are in Africa and about 7 million are from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. The numbers include mobile services subscribers in India, South Asia and Africa, Telemedia services subscribers and Digital services subscribers.
Subscriber Base India
The Airtel subscriber base according to Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) as of December 2010 was:
Metros
Chennai - 2,947,870 Delhi - 7,420,171 Mumbai - 3,263,688 Kolkata - 3,181,073
"A" Circle
Andhra Pradesh - 15,329,598 Gujarat - 5,980,024 Karnataka - 14,004,247 Maharashtra - 7,865,425 Tamil Nadu - 9,157,295
"B" Circle
Haryana - 1,856,093 Kerala - 3,383,097 Madhya Pradesh - 8,527,584 Punjab - 5,946,742 Rajasthan - 12,001,442 Uttar Pradesh (East) - 11,455,638 Uttar Pradesh (West) - 5,475,843 West Bengal - 7,592,487
"C" Circle
Assam - 2,828,490 Bihar - 13,901,163 Himachal Pradesh - 1,528,727 Jammu and Kashmir - 1,879,828 North Eastern States - 1,748,202
Orissa - 4,989,102
Airtel is the market leader in India with about 152,495,219 out of the total 745,000,000 subscribers in India or about 20.46% market share as of December 2010.
Merger talks
In May 2008, it emerged that Bharti Airtel was exploring the possibility of buying the MTN Group, a South Africa-based telecommunications company with coverage in 21 countries in Africa and the Middle East. The Financial Times reported that Bharti was considering offering US$45 billion for a 100% stake in MTN, which would be the largest overseas acquisition ever by an Indian firm. However, both sides emphasize the tentative nature of the talks, while The Economist magazine noted, "If anything, Bharti would be marrying up," as MTN has more subscribers, higher revenues and broader geographic coverage. However, the talks fell apart as MTN group tried to reverse the negotiations by making Bharti almost a subsidiary of the new company.
In May 2009, Bharti Airtel again confirmed that it is in Talks with MTN and companies have now agreed discuss the potential transaction exclusively by July 31, 2009. Bharti Airtel said in a statement "Bharti Airtel Ltd is pleased to announce that it has renewed its effort for a significant partnership with MTN Group".
Talks eventually ended without agreement, due to the South African government opposition.
Bharti Airtel has completed its $9 billion acquisition of African operations from Kuwait's Zain in a deal that would make the firm the world's No. 5 wireless carrier by subscribers.
In March, Bharti struck a deal to buy the Kuwait firm's mobile operations in 15 African countries, in India's second biggest overseas acquisition after Tata Steel's $13 billion buy of Corus in 2007.
Rebranding
On 18 November 2010, Airtel rebranded itself in India in the first phase of a global rebranding strategy. The company unveiled a new logo with 'airtel' written in lower case. Designed by London-based brand agency, Brand Union, the new logo is the letter 'a' in lowercase, with 'airtel' written in lowercase under the logo.
Explaining the new look in detail, Sanjay Kapoor, CEO, Bharti Airtel states that the new identity underlines Airtel's willingness to embrace everything that is new. He adds, "The logo type is modern, vibrant and friendly and signals our resolution to be accessible to our customers and stakeholders. And the lowercase is our recognition for humility. The red colour, which is an integral part of the brand, continues to represent heritage, energy and passion. The new curved and the gentle highlight almost gives the impression of a living object; at the same time, it represents a dynamic force of unparalleled energy, brings us closer to consumers and is a symbol which will help ensure instant recognition across diverse international markets."
On November 23, 2010, Airtel's Africa operations were rebranded to 'airtel'. Sri Lanka followed on November 28, 2010 and on December 20, 2010, Warid Telecom rebranded to 'airtel' in Bangladesh.
Timeline
Logo used by Airtel till 2010 November
The chronology of events since Bharti Tele-Ventures was incorporated in 1995:
1995
Bharti Cellular launched cellular services as "AirTel" in Delhi.
1996
STET International Netherlands NV, or STET, a company promoted by Telecom Italia, Italy acquired a 20% equity interest in Bharti Tele-Ventures
Bharti Telenet launched cellular services in Himachal Pradesh
1997
British Telecom acquired a 21.05% equity interest in Bharti Cellular
Bharti Telenet obtained a license for providing fixed-line services in Madhya Pradesh cirlce (and later Chattisgarh).
Bharti Telecom and British Telecom formed a 51% : 49% joint venture, Bharti BT, for providing VSAT services
1998
Bharti Telecom and British Telecom formed a 51% : 49% joint venture, "Bharti BT Internet" for providing Internet services
First Indian private fixed-line services launched in Indore in the Madhya Pradesh circle on June 4, 1998 by Bharti Telenet thereby ending fixed-line services monopoly of Department of Telecom (now BSNL).
1999
Warburg Pincus (through its investment company Brentwood Investment Holdings Limited) acquired a 19.05% equity interest in Bharti Tele-Ventures
Bharti Tele-Ventures (by acquiring a 63.45% equity interest in SC Cellular Holdings) acquired an effective 32.36% equity interest in Bharti Mobile (formerly JT Mobiles), the cellular services provider in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh circles
New York Life Insurance Fund, or NYLIF, acquired a 3% equity interest in Bharti Cellular
2000
Bharti Tele-Ventures acquired an effective equity interest of 40.5% in Bharti Mobinet (formerly Skycell Communications), the cellular services provider in Chennai
Bharti Tele-Ventures acquired a 30.2% equity interest of Telecom Italia in Bharti Telenet and 18.8% from Bharti Telecom thereby making Bharti Telenet a 100% subsidiary of Bharti Tele-Ventures
SingTel (through its investment company Pastel Limited) acquired STET's 15.3% equity interest in Bharti Tele-Ventures
Bharti Tele-Ventures acquired an additional effective 41.64% equity interest in Bharti Mobile (by acquiring the remaining 36.55% equity interest in SC Cellular) resulting in Bharti Tele-Ventures holding an effective 74% equity interest in Bharti Mobile.
2001
Bharti Tele-Ventures acquired NYLIF's 3% equity interest in Bharti Cellular
Bharti Telesonic entered into a joint venture, Bharti Aquanet, with SingTel for establishing a submarine cable landing station at Chennai
Bharti Tele-Ventures issued additional equity for approximately US$ 481.30 million to SingTel, Warburg Pincus, AIF group, IFC, NYLIF, and Seejay Cellular and Bharti Telecom
Bharti Cellular acquired a 100% equity interest in Bharti Mobitel (formerly Spice Cell ), the cellular services provider in Kolkata
Bharti Tele-Ventures acquired 85% and 15% in Bharti Telespatial from Bharti Telecom and Intel, respectively
Bharti Tele-Ventures acquired a 44% equity interest in Bharti Cellular from British Telecom, thereby making Bharti Cellular its 100% subsidiary
Bharti Tele-Ventures acquired an additional 49% equity interest in Bharti Mobinet from Millicom International and BellSouth International, thereby owning 89.5% equity interest in Bharti Mobinet, which was further increased to 95.3% following an issuance of additional equity shares by way of rights issue
Punjab license restored to Bharti Mobile by the Department of Telecom (DoT) and migration to NTP - 1999 accepted
Bharti Cellular entered into license agreements to provide cellular services in eight new circles following the fourth operator cellular license bidding process
Bharti Telenet entered into license agreements to provide fixed-line services in the Haryana, Delhi, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka circles
Bharti Telesonic entered into a license agreement with the DoT to provide national long distance services across India
Bharti Aquanet, Bharti Telesonic and Bharti Cellular entered into license agreements with the DoT to provide ISP services in India
Bharti Telesonic launched national long distance services under the brand name of IndiaOne
Bharti Telenet launched fixed line services in Haryana under the brand name of "TouchTel".
2002
Enters into a 5-year agreement with Escotel (now called Idea Cellular) and ETL of the Escorts group to contract leased line connectivity for its cellular operations
Mr. Ravi Akhoury ceases to be Director of Bharti Tele DoT grants ILD Telephony License to Bharti Telesonic,
subsidiary of the company Signs MoU with Telia AB to buy out their 26% stake in Bharti
Mobile Ties up with Secondary School Certification (SSC) Board,
Hyderabad, where Bharti will announce SSC results to its customers on their mobile phones
ICICI Bank ties up with Bharti for pre-paid mobile cards via ATMs
Bharti forays into Mumbai with offers Alpine International Ltd. and ELM International Ltd. acquire
shares of Bharti Tele-Ventures
2003
Airtel breaks interconnectivity with Tata Teleservices in Andhra Pradesh
Company accorded its approval for amalgamation of its subsidiary companies viz: Bharti Telenet Ltd, Bharti Telesonic Ltd, Bharti Broadband Networks Ltd and Bharti Comtel Ltd through scheme of Amalgamation. The merged entity would be renamed as Bharti Infotel Ltd
Airtel launches Local direct dialling facility in Chennai circle Bharti Cellular unveils "CareTouch" service Cellular brand "Airtel" unveils free multimedia messaging
services (MMS) for its customers. The company has also rolled out pan-India GPRS for its corporate subscribers
Launches its `IndiaOne MeetXpress' audio-conferencing service Punjab, Haryana get free incoming calls from Airtel AirTel provides SMS facilities to hearing impaired in Chennai Goa, Maharashtra gets 'voice portal' services by Bharti Cellular Launches free additional connection to its new subscribers in
New Delhi Mr Sin Hang Boon and Mr Wong Hung Khim have resigned
from the Board of Directors of Bharti Tele Ventures Ltd with effect from February 27, 2003.
Airtel launches its GPRS network in Chennai Airtel subscribers cross 3 million mark AirTel unveils RAD system Mr P M Sinha resigns from the Board of Directors of the
Company with effect from March 31, 2003. Bharti TeleVentures announces the completion of merger with
Bharti Mobitel Bharti Mobitel Ltd. merged with Bharti Cellular Ltd. "Airtel" and "Touchtel" jointly offer free Touchtel land line for
post-paid Airtel connection Airtel rolls out voice mail service for pre-paid customers AirTel unveils new scheme for pre-paid customers giving away
free talk time worth Rs 10 crore Airtel surpasses 4 lakh subscriber base in Karnataka Bharti announces new tariff plan AirTel 012
Offers 0-1-2, a new cellular package for the customers, which means zero charges on incoming calls, Re 1 on mobile-to-mobile outgoing calls, Rs 2 on mobile-to-mobile STD calls
Rolls out Airtel messenger service AirTel offers bundled handset, connection package for Rs 5715 Airtel slashes SMS rates to 60 paise; excludes Delhi and
Mumbai Bharti cellular, wholly owned subsidiary of Bharti Tele-
Ventures, increases its stake to 100% in Bharti Mobile Signs distribution pact with Hathway Cable. With this alliance,
Bharti is said to be the first telecom firm to step into television distribution services
Six cell operators move over from Bharti to VSNL Airtel augments cellular coverage in Tamil Nadu by including
Arcot & Walajapet in its network Airtel ties up with Coke in Chennai to sell its "Magic" prepaid
cards AirTel embarks on network expansion in Hyderabad Airtel unveils IndiaOne Long Distance Calling Card AirTel introduces unified tariff package in Tamil Nadu and
Chennai Airtel becomes front runner in Karnataka's mobile services
market Bharti Tele launches 'Always on' service to its subscribers State Bank of India and AirTel announce EMI offer at Rs 299 Bharti and MTV join hands to launch new SIM card AirTel unveils new post-paid scheme at zero rental AirTel launches `Happy Plan' in AP Airtel emerges as the highest selling pre-paid card Airtel join hands with Alcatel & Videocon to launch new
scheme AirTel service provider touches 5 lakh customers in Punjab Airtel offers 5 new services for its customers in Mumbai Bharti launches first dual band network in Delhi Gets 14th place among top 25 Cos in India Bharti Mobile crosses 4 lakh mobile subscribers in AP Airtel holds top position in terms of dealer penetration
Prof. V S Raju has been inducted on the Board of Directors of the Company.
Touchtel launches SMS service in fixed line phones in Karnal and Panipat in Haryana.
Airtel unveils special offers in Kerala AirTel launches InnoWest for the western region Bharti Tele-Ventures enters into an agreement with Telesystem
(Mauritius) Pvt. Ltd Airtel slashes out going SMS price to 30ps On December 16, 2003, Airtel announced the launch of expense
tracker service, which provides customers the option of tracking their day-to-day expenses on a daily or monthly basis. This service will allow a user to track expenses, while on the move by sending an SMS.
AirTel introduces MTV Club Card in Chennai
2004
Bharti unveils new card for Mecca piligrims AirTel enrolls 50,000 customers in its mobile service in 60 days Launches WAP enabled portal Service in Kerala Bharti Cellular's AirTel has extended its mobile connectivity to
Karaikkal, Nagur, Mannargudi and Kovilpalayam in Tamil Nadu.
Airtel customer base touches new high of 5 lakh mark in Andhra Pradesh
On Pongal, Airtel is launching its first ever MMS downloads in Tamil.
AirTel tie up with MAA TV Airtel launches Rs 50 pre-paids recharge AirTel launched a family pack for its post-paid customers in
Chennai on January 29. Bharti Tele-Ventures enters into a three year service agreement
with Ericsson Bharti Tele-Ventures (BTVL) has signed and received unified
access service licence to provide GSM services in Uttar Pradesh (East), West Bengal & Andaman Nicobar, Orissa, Bihar and
Jammu & Kashmir. The licence has been granted to Bharti Cellular Ltd (BCL), the cellular arm and subsidiary of BTVL.
Airtel and Mobilink, the only GSM cellular service provider in Pakistan, sign the first-ever bilateral roaming agreement between India and Pakistan
Acquires switching systems from Tekelec Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd signed an information technology
outsourcing deal with infotech major IBM, estimated to be in the range of 0-750 million for a ten-year period.
Jayant Khosla, new chief executive officer, Mumbai Signs MoU to join the South East Asia - Middle East - Western
Europe 4 (SEA-ME-WE-4) consortium along with 15 other global telecom operators.
Bharti Tele-Ventures has struck a deal with Shyam Telecom to buy out the latter's 67.5 per cent stake in cellular services company Hexacom for Rs 430 crore.
Samsung India Electronics Limited has tied up with cellular operator Bharti for bundling its mobile handsets with a connection.
The Bharti group finalised a Rs 500-crore deal to share its national long-distance (STD) network with VSNL in a first-of-its-kind accord between two top telecom service providers in a bid to optimise capacities in the NLD segment.
Internet gateway and services provider, Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (VSNL) has signed a Right to Use (RoU) agreement to deploy mobile telephony major, Bharti Tele-Ventures' existing National Long Distance (NLD) backbone.
Airtel offers talktime transfer service Airtel has announced money-back guarantee offer in case of call
drop or poor network experience for its subscribers Bharti launches 2-in-1 card Airtel launched two-way international roaming and GPRS for
prepaid customers in the Maharshtra and Goa circles Bharti Tele-Ventures has bagged the Asian MobileNews
operator of the year award in India and the subcontinent Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd has awarded a million equipment
contract to Swedish telecoms company Ericsson
Bharti Televentures announced formation of a new strategic business unit to offer various telecom and IT services through a single contact
Bharti Televentures unveiled a mobile portal featuring sports, entertainment and news among others
Airtel ties up with Micro Tech to set up 'Mcops' vehicle security system
Bharti Tele-Venture on July 19 launched "Caller Tunes" service, a personalized mobile music service where the caller hears songs and other sound clips instead of the traditional switchboard ring-ring tone
Airtel, a private telecom services provider, has commissioned its first 24x7 customer service centre in Andhra Pradesh
Airtel unveils Rs 199 pre paid card AirTel join hands with Narsee Monjee Institute of Management
Studies (NMIMS) to offer executive MBA programme AirTel introduces new scheme for hearing impaired in
Maharashtra & Goa AirTel inks pact with JP Mobile Rolls out Enhanced Data Rate for Global Evolution (EDGE)
network in Pune on September 9, 2004, Ties up with Nokia for sale of Nokia 6230, an EDGE-enabled handset.
AirTel unveils first virtual calling cards in India BTVL rolls out EDGE services in Bangalore Airtel rolls out Full Talktime Advantage card Airtel rolls out wi-fi services in Mumbai BTVL launches new 'Airtel Broadband Friendly Offer' Airtel launches GPRS services for pre-paid customers Airtel partners with ITPO to set up Wi-Fi network in Delhi Airtel launches EDGE services and a new pre-paid plan for
Chennai Airtel introduces LAS in Karnataka
2005
Airtel launches video services for its GPRS customers on February 22, 2005
Airtel unveils new TV ad featuring Sachin Tendulkar and Shah Rukh Khan
Bharti Tele-Ventures launches telecom network in Andaman & Nicobar
BTVL unveil fixed line, broadband services Bharti inks 5-m deal with Nokia for rural network expansion Bharti Tele Ventures Ltd has announced that Airtel, ICICI Bank
& VISA have joined hands to launch mCheq - a revolutionary new service - a credit card on the mobile phone
Airtel introduces BlackBerry Connect in India Bharti Tele Ventures announces agreement with Vodafone Airtel unveils 'free flight' offer Bharti Tele-Ventures launches under sea cable system
2006
Airtel unveils Re 1 STD plans Airtel launches NetXpert. Airtel launches Post2Pre recharging service on April 04,2006. Airtel sets up customer centre Airtel announced the launch of `Save My Phone Contact' service
for its pre-paid and post-paid customers in Delhi Bharti Tele Ventures bags 'Wireless Service Provider of the
Year' & 'Competitive Service Provider of the Year' awards Cellebrum join hands with Airtel Airtel Mega unveiled in Coimbatore Bharti Airtel Ltd and Microsoft announced a strategic
partnership that will offer a range of software and services for small and medium businesses (SMBs) in India.
Bharti Airtel Ltd on Nov 8, announced a first-of-its-kind alliance with the Adani Group for establishing an end-to-end modern telecommunication network infrastructure for the latter's multi-sector special economic zone (SEZ), located near Mundra Port in Kutch district of Gujarat.
2007
Bharti Airtel has come out with a slew of initiatives including buying out SingTel's 50 per cent stake in joint venture under sea cable company Network i2i
Bharti Airtel on Feb 11, has been awarded QCI-DL Shah National Award on Economics of Quality.
Bharti Airtel Ltd has announces changes in the operational leadership structure and roles in the Company effective April 01, 2007.
Bharti Airtel Ltd on April 01, 2007, has announces the reduction in ISD Tariffs for all its mobile customers in India.
8Airtel signs agreement with HTC for touch screen mobile.
2008
Nokia Siemens Networks on Jan 3 declared that it has been awarded a multi million euro contract from Bharti Airtel Ltd for deployment of a single interactive voice response (IVR) platform across 23 circles. The three-year turnkey contract comprises designing, planning, systems integration and optimisation services to raise overall customer experience. The new IVR solution will enable Airtel to deliver services such as voice SMS, televoting, call management services, caller ring back tone and voice portal on a faster time-to-market basis and, therefore, reduce OPEX costs.
Bharti Airtel Ltd on February 13, 2008 has announced that it has achieved the 60 million mobile, fixed line and broadband customers.
Bharti Airtel tied up with US-based Apple Inc to bring the popular GSM-based iPhone in the country.
Bharti Airtel Ltd has forged a technology alliance with Infosys Technologies Ltd to launch its Direct-to-Home (DTH) television services. Infosys, through its digital convergence platform, will offer a suite of products including devices, application servers and interactive applications for Airtel's DTH services.
2009
Bharti Airtel signed a five-year managed services deal with Alcatel-Lucent for its fixed-line and broadband operations.
Bharti Airtel launched the 'Airtel Advantage' initiative. The initiative is aimed at offering the added advantage to Airtel customers to be in touch with each other at an affordable rate of 50 paise per minute, be it a national long distance call (STD) or a local call.
In order to create products and services for the small, medium and large enterprises, Bharti Airtel and Cisco announced a strategic business alliance. The alliance would combine the strengths of Airtel's network service and Cisco' Internet Protocol (IP) technologies.
Airtel and mChek announce milestone of 1 Million users and introduce a broad range of new mCommerce services.
2010
On 14, February 2010, Zain Ghana issued a resolution to accept a $10.7 billion buyout offer from Bharti Airtel Limited (Bharti) to enter into exclusive discussions until 25 March 2010, regarding the sale of its African unit, Zain Africa BV.
Bharti Airtel submitted its bid for 3G spectrum auction which starts from April 9, 2010.
Bharti Airtel has partnered with US-based software maker VMware Inc. It has done this in order to focus on the cloud-based managed computer services market.
On May 18, 2010, Airtel won 3G spectrum in 13 circles: Delhi, Mumbai, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh (West), Rajasthan, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Assam, North East, Jammu & Kashmir for Rs. 12,295 crores.
Bharti Airtel wins broadband spectrum in four circles: Maharashtra, Karnataka, Punjab and Kolkata for Rs. 3314.36 crores.
On 8, June 2010, Bharti Airtel completed a deal to Zain Telecom's businesses in 15 African countries for $10.7 billion.
On August 11, 2010, Bharti Airtel announced that it would acquire 100% stake in Telecom Seychelles for US$62 million taking its global presence to 19 countries.
On 20 September 2010, Bharti Airtel said that it has given contracts to Ericsson India, Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) and Huawei Technologies to set up infrastructure for providing 3G services in the country.
On 18, November,2010, Bharti Airtel announced a re-branding campaign wherein, they would be referred as airtel, with a new logo.
Operator wise Market Share
GSM Operator
Total Subscriber base
% Market Share
% Growth Over previous month
Bharti Airtel 130619487 30.16% 2.35%
Vodafone 103755978 23.96% 2.87%
Idea Cellular 65288248 15.08% 2.29%
BSNL 64744985 14.94% 1.98%
Aircel 38469541 8.88% 4.36%
Reliance Telecom (RTL)*
16311206 3.77% NA
MTNL 4817670 1.11% 0.69%
Uninor 5021651 1.16% 17.77%
Loop Mobile 2894511 0.67% 1.76%
Stel 112391 0.26% 10.48%
Etisalat DB 4990 0.00% NA
All India 433040658 100% 2.65%
