Bharti Airtel is India's largest cellular service provider with over 82 million subscribers as of 2008. It offers mobile and fixed-line services under the Airtel brand. Airtel is a subsidiary of Bharti Enterprises and is headed by Sunil Mittal. Airtel has expanded internationally, providing services in Sri Lanka through its Airtel Lanka brand since 2009.

1. Bharti Airtel
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For the information technology, see Airtel (FBI).
Bharti Enterprises (Airtel)
Public, Listed on BSE
Type
1985
Founded
Headquarters New Delhi, India
Sunil Mittal (Chairman and CEO)
Key people
Telecommunication
Industry
Mobile and Fixed-Line
Products
Telecommunication operator
$6 Billion
Revenue
Bharti Group Airtel
Website
Bharti Airtel, formerly known as Bharti Tele-Ventures Limited (BTVL) is India's largest and
world's third largest cellular service provider with more than 82 million subscribers as of
December 2008.[1] 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. SingTel owns over 30% of the

2. Bharti Telecom. Airtel is also a shareholder of vodafone with 31% of the shares. Thus making it
a sister company of the brand. It is also a stockholder of other of the cellphone brand
Hutch.Group.[2]
Contents
[hide]
1 Brands
o 1.1 Airtel
2 Airtel Sri Lanka
o 2.1 Touchtel
3 BlackBerry
4 Digital TV
5 iPhone 3G
6 Awards and recognition
7 In the news
8 Subscriber base
9 See also
10 References
11 External links
[edit] Brands
[edit] Airtel
Airtel is a brand of telecommunication services in India and Sri Lanka operated by Bharti Airtel.
Bharti Airtel India‟s largest integrated and the first private telecom services provider in all the 23
telecom circles. With its world class products and services, Bharti Airtel since its inception, has
been at the forefront of technology and has steered the course of the telecom sector in the
country. The businesses at Bharti Airtel are structured into three strategic business units (SBU‟s)
- Mobile Services, Telemedia Services & Enterprise Services. The Mobile business provides
mobile & fixed wireless services using GSM technology across 23 telecom circles, Telemedia
Services business offers broadband & telephone services in 94 cities. The Enterprise services
provide end-to-end telecom solution to corporate customers and additionally provides national &
international long distance services to carriers. We have recently forayed into Media Business by
launching our DTH Services in October 2008. All these services are rendered under a unified
brand “Airtel”.
Bharti Airtel serves over 82mn customers as of October 31, 2008; of whom 80,199,747 subscribe
to GSM services and 2,549,043 use Telemedia Services either for voice and/or broadband access
delivered through DSL. They are the largest wireless service provider in the country, based on

3. the number of subscribers as of October 31, 2008. Bharti Airtel has a dominant position in the
GSM services with a market share of 34.5 % as of September 2008.[3]
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. This has been incorporated with an objective to provide “Shared Telecom
Infrastructure” to telecom operators across the world on a nondiscriminatory basis. It‟s
commitment towards continuous innovation will enable optimization of future tower rollout and
enhance operational efficiencies and result in substantial cost savings for its customers.
[edit] Airtel Sri Lanka
In December 2008, Bharti Airtel rolled out third generation services in Sri Lanka in association
with Singtel. This is because Asia's telecommunications major SingTel, is a major player in the
3G space as it has already third generation networks in several markets across Asia. It had been
largely criticised in recent times on its inability to start operation even two years after its
certification and proposed date of launch. [4]
Airtel's operation in Sri Lanka, known as Airtel Lanka, commenced operations on the 12th of
January 2009. Their offer of a free SIM card with ever connection from Jan 12-25 led to long
queues outside Airtel‟s office at Narahenpita, Colombo. Airtel announced the following tariff
features at the launch: Same tariffs for peak and off-peak hours, Unconditional free incoming
calls, Uniform call charges to any network and 50% lower charges on roaming in India. [5]
[edit] Touchtel
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 quot;Airtelquot;
[edit] BlackBerry
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)..
[edit] Digital TV
Main article: Airtel Digital Tv
On 9 October 2008, Airtel joined the DTH bandwagon in India with Airtel Digital TV, a Direct-
to-Home Television service.
[edit] iPhone 3G

4. As of 22 August 2008, the Apple iPhone 3G is available in India on Airtel and Vodafone.
[edit] Awards and recognition
Bharti Airtel has received recognition for its innovative practices across the world, some are as
follows:
3rd Largest Wireless Operator In The World
Largest Private Integrated Telecom Company In India
Largest Wireless Operator In India
Largest Private Fixed Line Operator In India
Largest Telecom Company Listed On Indian Stock Exchanges
Sunil Bharti Mittal, - Gsm Association Chairman‟s Award 2008
Sunil Bharti Mittal, - Chosen For Padma Bhushan Awards In 2007
Airtel Was Chosen As The 2nd Most Trusted Service Brand In India In The „Most
Trusted Brands 2008 Survey‟ Conducted By The Economic Times - Brand Equity
Awarded With Top Honors At The Gsma Mobile World Congress Conference 2008 In
Barcelona For The Category “Best Billing/ Customer Care Solution.”
Adjudged As The „Best Carrier India„ At The Telecom Asia Award 2008
Gallup Great Workplace Award For 2008
Ranked 2nd In The Survey Of India‟s Most Respected Companies By Businessworld
2007
Adjudged As „Company Of The Year‟ At The Cnbc India Business Leader Awards 2007
Economic Times „Company Of The Year 2007‟ Award For Corporate Excellence
Gallup Great Workplace Award For 2008 -Airtel is one of the only 20 companies
worldwide and the only company from India to receive the prestigious award. The other
winners include companies like Standard Chartered, Qwest Communications and
Campbell Soup Company etc. Airtel is one of the only 20 companies worldwide and the
only company from India where Organization engagement score is higher in more than
50% of the population. Tom Rath from Gallup mentions quot;Studying more than 10 million
employees worldwide allowed us to set an extraordinarily high bar for this award. The
winners have gone far beyond just offering nice perks and benefits. They have created an
environment that truly engages people every day, throughout the organization.quot;
[edit] In the news
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.
In its monthly press release[citation needed], following statistics have been presented for end of April
2007.
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

5. 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 (300,000) subscribers
Bharti Airtel‟s enterprise Services, President - David is busy connecting India to Europe.
David announced the building of 15,000 km 3.84 Terrabit OFC sub-marine cable system
connecting Europe [London] to India via the Middle East. The project is known as
Europe India gateway [EIG] and is expected to cost $700 million, which is to be
completed by Q2-2010. Alcatel Lucent and Tyco are the telecom vendors for the project.
Members in the EIG consortium include - AT&T, BT, C&W, Djibouti Telecom, Du,
Gibtelecom, IAM, Libyan Telecom, MTN Group Ltd., Omantel, PT Comunicacoes-S.A, Saudi
Telecom Company, Telecom Egypt, Telkom SA Ltd, and Verizon Business.
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, quot;If anything, Bharti would be marrying up,quot; as MTN has more
subscribers, higher revenues and broader geographic coverage.[6] However, the talks fell apart as
MTN group tried to reverse the negotiations by making Bharti almost a subsidiary of the new
company [7]
[edit] Subscriber base
The Airtel subscriber base according to COAI - Cellular Operator Association of India as of
November 2008[8] was:
Chennai - 2,011,299
Delhi - 4,418,296
Mumbai - 2,718,885
Kolkata - 2,178,061
Maharashtra -

6. Gujarat - 3,690,661
Andhra Pradesh - 8,094,328
Karnataka - 8,995,538
Tamil Nadu - 5,392,458
Kerala - 2,013,424
Punjab - 3,554,406
Haryana - 1,170,378
Uttar Pradesh (West) - 2,071,723
Uttar Pradesh (East) - 5,124,948
Rajasthan - 6,032,480
Madhya Pradesh - 4,040,871
West Bengal & Andaman and Nicobar - 3,004,647
Himachal Pradesh - 887,594
Bihar - 6,419,357
Orissa - 2,496,123
Assam - 1,241,186
North Eastern States - 766,763
Jammu & Kashmir - 1,391,606
The total is 78,908,993 or 31.65% of the total 249,349,436 GSM mobile connections in India till
November 2008. In 2009 Airtel is launched in Srilanka also.
[edit] See also
Bharti Airtel on Wikinvest
[edit] References
1. ^ http://wirelessfederation.com/news/india-reports-a-mobile-subscriber-base-of-
33608mn-bharti-airtel-tops-the-chart/
2. ^
http://home.singtel.com/about_singtel/global_presence/overseas_investments/overseas_in
vestments.asp
3. ^ Report on Indian Telecom - Credit Suisse 14 October 2008
4. ^ quot;AirTel to use SingTel expertise for 3G services rollout in Sri Lankaquot;.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Telecom/Airtel_to_use_S
ingtel_expertise_for_3G_services_rollout_in_Lanka/articleshow/2841189.cms.
5. ^ quot;Airtel Launches Sri Lanka Ops; VAS & 3G Services, Free Sim Cardsquot;.
http://www.medianama.com/2009/01/223-airtel-launches-sri-lanka-ops-vas-3g-services-
free-sim-cards/.
6. ^ quot;Emerging-market telecoms: Eyes on Africaquot;, The Economist, 6 May 2008
7. ^ quot;$50 Billion Telecom Deal Falls Apartquot;, The New York Times, 25 May 2008
8. ^ COAI