Airtel

Bharti Airtel, formerly known as Bharti Tele-Ventures Limited (BTVL) is India‘s largest cellular service provider with more than 75 million subscribers as of August 2008.It also offers fixed line services and broadband services. It offers its TELECOM services under the Airtel brand and is headed by Sunil Mittal. The company also provides telephone services and Internet access over DSL in 14 circles. The company complements its mobile, broadband & telephone services with national and international long distance services. The company also has a submarine cable landing station at Chennai, which connects the submarine cable connecting Chennai and Singapore. The company provides end-to-end data and enterprise services to the corporate customers through its nationwide fiber optic backbone, last mile connectivity in fixed-line and mobile circles, VSATs, ISP and international bandwidth access through the gateways and landing station.

Bharti Enterprises has successfully focused its strategy on telecom while straddling diverse fields of business. From the creation of ‘Airtel’, one of India’s finest brands, to becoming the largest manufacturer and exporter of world class telecom terminals under its ‘Beetel’ brand, Bharti has created a significant position for itself in the global telecommunications sector. Bharti Airtel Limited is today acknowledged as one of India’s finest companies, and its flagship brand ‘Airtel’, has over 24 million customers across the length and breadth of India.

While a joint venture with TeleTech Inc., USA marked Bharti’s successful foray into the Customer Management Services business, Bharti Enterprises’ dynamic diversification has continued with the company venturing into telecom software development. Recently, Bharti has successfully launched an international venture with EL Rothschild Group owned ELRO Holdings India Ltd., to export fresh Agri products exclusively to markets in Europe and USA.

Companies of Airtel

A brief introduction to each of its companies is given below:

1. Bharti Airtel Ltd

Bharti Airtel Ltd is India’s leading provider of telecommunications services. The company has 4 distinct Business divisions – Mobile & telephone services, broadband services, long distance services and enterprise services.

2. Bharti TeleTech Ltd

Bharti TeleTech Ltd manufactures and exports world-class telecom equipment under the brand ‘Beetel’

3. Telecom Seychelles Ltd

Telecom Seychelles Ltd provides telecom services in Seychelles, under the brand ‘Airtel’

4. Bharti Telesoft Ltd

Bharti Telesoft Ltd delivers best-in-class, revenue-critical VAS products and services to telecom carriers.

5. TeleTech Services (India) Ltd

TeleTech Services (India) Ltd is joint venture with TeleTech Inc., USA. It offers a range of Customer Management Services.

6. FieldFresh Foods Pvt Ltd

FieldFresh Foods Pvt Ltd is Bharti’s venture with EL Rothschild Group owned ELRO Holdings India Ltd., to export fresh Agri products exclusively to markets in Europe and USA.

Airtel is a brand of telecommunication services in India operated by Bharti Airtel.

Airtel is the largest cellular service provider in India in terms of number of subscribers. Bharti Airtel owns the Airtel brand and provides the following services under the brand name Airtel: Mobile Services (using GSM Technology), Broadband & Telephone Services (Fixed line, Internet Connectivity(DSL) and Leased Line), Long Distance Services and Enterprise Services (Telecommunications Consulting for corporates). It has presence in all 23 circles of the country and covers 71% of the current population.

Leading international telecommunication companies such as Vodafone and SingTel held partial stakes in Bharti Airtel.

In March 2008, Bharti Airtel will roll out third generation services in Sri Lanka in association with  HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singtel” \o “Singtel” Singtel. This is because Singapore-based Asian telecom major Singtel, which owns a little over 30% in Bharti Airtel, is a major player in the 3G space as it has already third generation networks in several markets across Asia

The Company Bharti Airtel is in India the biggest integrated and also the 1^st telephone service provider in the private sector, which has footprint in around 23 telecom circles. Bharti Airtel Limited has been since its very beginning using the latest technology and thus the company has paved the way for the telecom sector in India with its world-class services and products.

This has helped Bharti Airtel Company to grow for the number of its customers has increased very rapidly over the years. The company has around 5o million customers in 2007 and its market share of mobile subscribers in India is at 23.4%.

The company Bharti Airtel Limited’s total revenue amounted to Rs.12, 242 crore in 2006- 2007 and the net profit stood at Rs.3, 126 crore. The Company Bharti Airtel is divided into 3 business units that are:

• Broadband & Telephone (B&T) services
• Enterprise services
• Mobile services

Among the various services that the Bharti Airtel Limited Company provides to its customers, the services of broadband and telephone (B&T) are 1 of them. The company provides broadband Internet services of high speed for it has the best network in India. The company Bharti Airtel also provides telephone services in around 94 cities of the country and this helps the people to stay connected with one another. The company plans to expand its broadband and telephone services by providing IPTV services and DTH operations.

Further Bharti Airtel provides enterprise services to its customers. The services of enterprise provide telecom end-to-end solutions to customers who belong to the corporate sector and also long distance services to international and national carriers. The company Bharti Airtel has more than 35,016 kilometers of optic fiber, a submarine landing station, and is also a member of South East Asia- Middle East- Western Europe- 4. All this has helped the company to provide the best enterprise services to its customers. The company Bharti Airtel Limited plans to expand its enterprise services so that it can achieve the status of a global carrier within a period of 2- 3 years.

Awards and Recognition

   Wireless service provider of the year 2005 at the Frost and Sulivan Asia-Pacific ICT awards

   Competitive service provider of the year 2005 at the Frost and Sulivan Asia-Pacific ICT awards

   Bharti Airtel added the highest ever net addition of 5.3 million customers in a single quarter (Q4-FY0607) and also the highest ever net addition of 18 million total subscribers in 2006-07

   The company will invest up to $3.5 billion this fiscal (07-08) in network expansion.

   It has an installed base of 40,000 cellsites and 59% population coverage

   After the proposed network expansion, an additional 30,000 towers will result in the company achieving 70% population coverage

   Bharti has over 39 million users as on March 31, 2007

   It has set a target of 125 million subscribers by 2010

   Prepaid customers account for 88.5% of Bharti’s total subscriber base, an increase from 82.7% a year ago

   ARPU has dropped to Rs 406

   Non-voice revenues, (SMS, voice mail, call management, hello tunes and Airtel Live) constituted 10% of total revenues during Q4, lower than 10.7% in the Q4 of the previous year

   Blended monthly minutes of usage per customer in Q4 was at 475 minutes

   Has completed 100% verification of its subscribers and in the process disconnected three lakh subscribers

Market News

Market Capitalisation

Approx. Rs. 1,670 billion Closing BSE share price = Rs. 880.75

   Sales : 02.62 Billion $

   Profits : 00.46 Billion $

   Assets : 04.46 Billion $

   Market Value : 41 Billion $

On February 12, 2007 Vodafone sold its 5.6% stake in AirTel back to AirTel for US $1.6 billion; and purchased a controlling stake in rival Hutchison Essar.