Airtel

Airtel was started by Mr.Sunil Bharti Mittal,a graduate from Ludhiana (PUNJAB).earlier he was owner of local telecom company Beetel. Afterwards he planned to expand his company at national level and the consequence is Airtel, what we see today. Bharti Airtel is India’s largest telecommunications company by subscriber base, which stood at 85.7 million in December 2008, and total revenues, which were Rs.270 billion in 2007/08.

Airtel is one of Asia’s leading providers of telecommunication services with presence in all the 22 licensed jurisdictions (also known as Telecom Circles) in India, and in Srilanka. It served an aggregate of 96,649,487 customers as of March 31, 2009; of whom 93,923,248 subscribe to  GSM services and 2,726,239 use  Telemedia Services either for voice and/or broadband access delivered through DSL. It is the largest wireless service provider in the country, based on the number of subscribers as of March 31, 2009. It also offered an integrated suite of telecom solutions to our enterprise customers, in addition to providing long distance connectivity both nationally and internationally. It had recently forayed into media by launching our DTH and IPTV Services. All these services are rendered under a unified brand “Airtel”.The Company also deploys, owns and manages passive infrastructure pertaining to telecom operations under its subsidiary Bharti Infratel Limited. Bharti Infratel owns 42% of Indus Towers Limited. Bharti Infratel and Indus Towers are the two top providers of passive infrastructure services in India.

Sunil Bharti Mittal, the founder – chairman of Bharti Enterprises (who owns Airtel), is today, the most famous face of the telecom sector in India. He symbolizes the adage that success comes to those who dream big and then worked assiduously to deliver it. His strong entrepreneurial instincts gave him a unique flair for sensing new business opportunities. In the early years, Bharti established itself as a supplier of basic telecom equipment. His true calling came in the mid 1990s when the government opened up the sector and allowed private players to provide telecom services.

Telecom giant Bharti Airtel is the flagship company of Bharti Enterprises. The Bharti Group, has a diverse business portfolio and has created global brands in the telecommunication sector. Bharti has recently forayed into retail business as Bharti Retail Pvt. Ltd. under a MoU with Wal-Mart for the cash & carry business. It has successfully launched an international venture with EL Rothschild Group to export fresh agri products exclusively to markets in Europe and USA and has launched Bharti AXA Life Insurance Company Ltd under a joint venture with AXA, world leader in financial protection and wealth management.

Vision

By 2010 Airtel will be the most admired brand in India:

• Loved by more customers

• Targeted by top talent

• Benchmarked by more business.

Key Milestones

Date of Incorporation————————————————————– July 07, 1995

First private operator to offer fixed line telephony—————————- June 04, 1998

Became a public limited company in India ———————————— February 18, 2002

First telecom company to have an all India mobile footprint

(Presence in all 23 telecom circles in India)———————————— March 30, 2005

Company History

Each year of Airtel’s existence has been marked by historic and far reaching milestones including many firsts, all to which have been stepping stones to their success and performance. A brief history of the Company’s major events is:

1995-96

Mobile services under the brand name ‘Airtel’ launched for the first time in Delhi and Himachal Pradesh

1997-1998

The first private telecom service provider to obtain a license fro landline telephony in Madhya Pradesh

Incorporation of Bharti BT VSAT Ltd. For providing VSAT solutions across India and Bharti BT Internet Ltd.

1999-2000

The larges private sector telecom operator in India after acquiring JT Mobile for providing cellular services in Punjab, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh

Acquires Skycell, Chennai and expands its south Indian foot print Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. (Sing Tel) acquires Telecom Italia’s equity stake in the Company.

2001-2002

India One, India’s first private sector national and international long distance service launched.

Eastern foray through acquisition and new licenses for eight new circles across India.

India’s first private submarine cable landing station in a joint venture with Singtel.

Initial Public offering through India’s first 100% book-building issue.

First private operator to offer basic telephone services in Haryana Delhi Tamil Nadu and Karnataka

2003-2004

Join the US $1 billion revenue club

Strategic partnerships with IBM and Ericsson for outsourcing of the company’s core IT and network activities.

Acquires a controlling stake in Hexacom, the leading mobile operator in Rajasthan and holding a license to offer services in the NorthEast.

First private operator to launch mobile services in Jammu and Kashmir.

Founding member of the Bridge Mobile Alliance, a consortium of seven leading mobile operators in the region.

2005-2006

All-India foot print with the launch of mobile services in Assam.

Becomes India’s largest intergrated private operator based on the total customer base

2006-2008

Profit crosses US $ billion.

Receives license for providing 2G and 3G mobile services in Srilanka

Launch of ‘Airtel CallHome’ service, a calling card service for various countries aimed at the Indian diaspora.

Strategic partnership with Google, enabling search through mobile phones.

Strategic tie-up with Microsoft and becomes the first telecom operator to offer Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 technology.

Facility Based operator license in Singapore, enabling the company to operate international carrier facilities from Singapore.

Joins international consortia of leading telecom companies to build 3 high bandwidth submarine cables AAG, I-ME-WE AND Unity.

Receives US $ 1.275 billion investment from leading international investors in Bharti Infratel, a subsidiary established with the aim to provide passive infrastructure services to all mobile services operators in India

Board of directors

Sunil Bharti Mittal —————— —Chairman and Managing Director

Manoj Kohli —————————–Joint Managing Director

Akhil Gupta ——————————Non Executive Director

Chua Sock Koong ———————–Non Executive Director

Paul O’Sullivan ————————–Non Executive Director

Quah Kung Yang ————————Non Executive Director

Rajan Bharti Mittal ———————-Non Executive Director

Rakesh Bharti Mittal ——————–Non Executive Director

Craig Ehrlish —————————–Independent Non Executive Director

Ajay Lal ———————————-Independent Non Executive Director

Arun Bharat Ram ———————–Independent Non Executive Director

Bashir Abdulla Currimjee ————-Independent Non Executive Director

Mauro Sentinelli ————————Independent Non Executive Director

N.Kumar ———————————Independent Non Executive Director

Nikesh Arora —————————-Independent Non Executive Director

Pulak Chandan Prasad —————–Independent Non Executive Director

Fact sheet

Airtel services

Wireless services

2G/3G

Rural Market

Telemedia Services

Fixed Line

Broadband

DTH(Media)

Enterprise Services

Carriers

Corporate

Passive Infrastructure Services

SWOT of Airtel

Strengths

• Very focused on telecom.
• Leader in fast growing cellular segment.
• Pan – India footprint.
• The only Indian operator, other than VSNL, that has an international submarine cable

Weakness

• Price competition from BSNL and MTNL
• Untapped Rural Market

Opportunities

• Fast expanding Indian cellular market.
• Latest and low cost technology
• Huge market

Threats

• Competition from other cellular and mobile operators
• Saturation point in Basic telephony service