Market concepts:

Bharti Airtel Picks Comverse SMSC Router Network

Submitted by Bharat Ghai on Fri, 01/16/2009 - 04:34.
Comverse, a supplier of software and systems enabling network-
based billing and VAS, has made announcement that Bharti Airtel,
India’s largest cellular provider, has deployed its SMS Router
network in order to maximize network performance, handle speedily
increasing SMS text messaging traffic and enable introduction of unmatched SMS-related services.

Bharti, which presently has over 80 million subscribers, said that Comverse SMS Router solution will
help it to raise the effectiveness of their subsisting SMS infrastructure and improve service availability.

More importantly, the service gives them sufficient capacity and flexibility to deal with future
requirements by allowing them to customize the solution according to their needs.

This successful deployment marks a notable development of Comverse’s SMS profile in Airtel, which
first installed Comverse SMSCs in 2006.

With an outstanding capacity of 19,800 service delivery attempts per second and magnitude (deployed
throughout India), this SMS Router network is one the world’s largest ever deployed.

It can easily handle the most extreme peak demands, which includes 300 million SMS messages in a
recent national holiday.

“This very exciting and rapidly growing mobile market requires new and innovative solutions to cope
with extraordinarily high volumes of SMS traffic,” said Urban Gillström, group president, Comverse
Global Sales. “It is a pleasure to work together with Airtel, India's largest cellular service provider, to
bring to life new concepts and solutions that improve SMS efficiency and provide infrastructure for
mobile voting, push content, and other attractive new SMS services. We are confident that the SMS
Router that has redefined the SMS architecture in India has a major role to play in the mobile world in
general. We are proud to again prove our ability to lead this revolution with our broad range of
messaging products.”
After the remarkable cellular growth, all eyes are now pointing towards broadband
growth in the country. In the last few years, the telecom industry has witnessed an
incredible demand of bandwidth intensive services, and consequently, there has been
continuous rise in the mobile broadband devices.

As per VOICE&DATA research, the overall broadband services market reached over
Rs 7,500 crore in FY 2008-09, registering 40% growth over previous fiscal's Rs 5,359
crore.

The total broadband subscribers (residential and business users) in India have
reached 6.3 mn in FY 2008-09, as compared to 3.9 mn in FY 2007-08. At present,
the broadband market is dominated by players like BSNL, Bharti Airtel, Reliance
Communications, Tata Communications, MTNL, Sify, and You Telecom.

While BSNL is the leader in the broadband market based on subscribers, Reliance
Communications is the leading player based on revenues. Reliance Communications
recorded revenues of Rs 2,356 crore in FY 2008-09, clocking 72% growth. Main
growth for Reliance Communications came from enterprises.

www.topnews.in/bharti-airtel-picks-comverse-smsc-router-network-
2110575
Zooming Ahead through broadbrand
The past few years have been really interesting for the broadband market. The year
gone by saw incredible demand for the services which need broadband capabilities.
With a large young population, the urban region witnessed mass consumption of
entertainment centric applications such as games, online movies, and music. On the
other hand, concepts such as e-health, e-learning and e-chaupals are making
significant headway among rural masses. If implemented properly, these initiatives
can bring fruitful results in the long term.

The new technologies enabling higher bandwidth include VDSL and GEPON. VDSL will
provide higher bandwidth over the same copper infrastructure to go beyond 8 Mbps,
possibly up to 20 Mbps. Alternatively, where copper doesn't already exist, GEPON
can provide up to 100 Mbps using fibre as a medium. Service providers are looking
forward to these two promising technologies to break the 8 Mbps barrier faced with
ADSL 2+.

Also, there was a buzz over 3G and WiMax services in FY 2008-09. The growth of
wireline technology can never be sidelined by 3G and 4G. The bandwidth or
capability of wireless technologies are still in a phase of obscurity when compared to
wireline.

Notably, the average per consumer requirement for IPTV ranges from 3-4 Mbps for
normal standard definition TV, and about 8 Mbps on HDTV. Therefore, enabling these
sorts of dedicated per consumer bandwidths on any wireless technology is
inconceivable. Wireline broadband offers many times higher bandwidth to users and
enables speedy downloads, streaming video, and other heavy multimedia content.
As India increasingly adopts an online environment, more and more services are
being made available online. Thus e-commerce is playing an important role in driving
the segment. The other factors include faster download speeds, lower costs of
equipments (like computers) to enable broadband access, increasing downloads of
content (like music and movies) from the Internet, and other value added services
(like gaming) on broadband, etc.

Bharti Airtel has gone a step further to popularize broadband amongst the youth by
launching games on demand to cater to the youth, besides the introduction of
innovative services (like video surveillance), which run on a broadband environment.

Last financial year saw the launch of improved content delivery such as television over IP
networks (IPTV) on broadband. Airtel also launched its IPTV service-digital TV
interactive-in January 2009 in Delhi, Ghaziabad and Noida. As of March 2009, it had
close to 10.72 lakh customers subscribing to broadband (DSL) services.
voicendata.ciol.com/content/vnd100...II/109070402.asp –

India’s leading GSM Mobile service provider Bharti Airtel has

partnered with Warner Brothers the makers of “Harry potter and the Half Blood Prince”
to unveil product offerings based on the film as part of its marketing initiative.With the
tie up in place, Airtel users can have access to games, wallpapers, ringtones and themes
from the sixth installment of the Harry Potter series. Bharti Airtel has the exclusive rights
to the Harry Potter game based on the latest film that revolves around the adventures of
Harry, Ron Weasely and Hermione Granger at Hogwarts.

Airtel also has the exclusive rights to wallpapers and animations of Harry, Ron and
Hermione practicing wizardry. Currently, there are twelve Harry Potter Wallpapers and
animations on the Airtel website and 14 ringtones based on the soundtrack of the film.

Using Airtel Live access point, customers can Read more…

Categories: AIRTEL

AIRTEL SPECIAL FIVE LOCAL 20P,STD 50P

POSTPAID DETAILS
July 21st, 2009 Duane 9 comments

Bharti Airtel India’s largest GSM Mobile service

provider today unveiled SPECIAL FIVE scheme for its postpaid subscribers a new
concept which offers very low calling rates for 5 SPECIAL AIRTEL POSTPAID
NUMBERS of one’s choice.

POSTPAID SCHEME DETAILS: Unlike in Prepaid where the customer can avail his
existing plan and select 5 numbers of his/her choice and continue to enjoy the existing
sms/call topping.

In Postpaid the rate plan Read more…

Categories: AIRTEL

AIRTEL SPECIAL FIVE LOCAL 20P,STD 50P

July 21st, 2009 Duane 12 comments

Bharti Airtel, India’s largest GSM Mobile service provider

unveiled “SPECIAL FIVE” a new concept which offers very low calling rates for 5
SPECIAL AIRTEL NUMBERS of one’s choice.

While this may at first glance may seem similar to the “Friends & Family” offers that
some operators (including Airtel in select circles) offers, it is a 1st of its kind as it allows
both Local & STD numbers to be added, upto a maximum of 5 mobile numbers.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS :

Maximum 5 Airtel mobile numbers – (Local & STD) can be added.

Number Changes can be done up to a maximum of Read more…

Categories: AIRTEL

AIRTEL MCHECK SERVICE NOW ON VOICE!

July 16th, 2009 Duane 6 comments

Bharti Airtel, India’s largest GSM service provider, has taken its
award winning MCHECK application a step further – the service is now available Voice!
Previously if a customer wanted to use the MHECK service he/she needed to SMS
“AIRTEL” to 543219, after which a URL would be sent to the phone. In case the handset
did not support the application, then the MCHECK registration & usage would not be
possible.

All that has changed now, an Airtel mobile customer simply needs to call 543219 (Toll-
free) and register his credit card number, the entire process takes less than 5 minutes.

MCHECK service can be used Read more…

Categories: AIRTEL

BHARTI AIRTEL’s NEW HANDSET OFFER-NOKIA

E75
July 16th, 2009 TUSHAR SHARMA 2 comments
 India’s leading telecom operator Bharti Airtel has launched a new
offer amid Nokia E75 with this cell phone Airtel is providing 100MB free data download
every month for a span of first 3 months along with 12 issues of The Economist magazine
and a Portfolio manager and news alerts, 3 months subscription worth Rs: 99 each, for
free.

One can SMS E75 to 543210 for activation Read more…

Categories: AIRTEL

AIRTEL LAUNCHES “NIGHT RADIO” SERVICE

July 6th, 2009 Duane 4 comments

Bharti Airtel, India’s leading GSM service provider, has launched its “NIGHT RADIO”
service. Available to Airtel customers pan-India, customers can dial 55170 and access
thousands of their favorite songs at a rental of Rs 15 per month.

Calls to this number would be charged only 20 paise per minute.

In some circles such as AP the previous “Airtel Radio” service – 5432139 – has been
withdrawn. This old service had a monthly charge of Rs 20 with no usage charges. As a
special offer, users of the old radio service are being given two months free subscription
to the new NIGHT RADIO service on 55170.

Categories: AIRTEL

BLOCK UNWANTED CALLS USING AIRTEL CALL

MANAGER
July 5th, 2009 Tarun 14 comments
 Bharti Airtel has rolled out an innovative value added service
known as Call manger which will now help users to block unwanted calls at his/her wish
with Airtel call manager subscribers gets an opportunity to get complete control of
calls .Airtel call manager comes with a monthly subscription of Rs 99 per month with lots
of features.

Features offered in Airtel call manager Block List when its active, the callers that are
added in your Block List will get a busy tone when they try to call you. Read more…

Categories: AIRTEL

AIRTEL LAUNCHES ‘VALUE MAGIC’ PREPAID

PLAN AND STD PACK
July 3rd, 2009 Sanjay Bafna No comments

India’s leading GSM mobile service provider Bharti Airtel

launches ‘Value Magic’ recharge offer for its GSM Prepaid subscribers in Karnataka
Telecom circle. According to the operators the new ‘Value Magic’ recharges has been
specially tailored for three key segments namely youth, rural and urban, as per their need
and usage patterns.

The new Airtel ‘Value Magic’ recharge coupons comes with price tag of Rs.49, Rs.249
and Rs.398 offering local Own Net calls at 50 paisa per minute with one year validity
with some additional benefits.

The Rs.149 Value Magic recharge offers talk time of Read more…

Categories: AIRTEL

AIRTEL OFFERS 7000 LOCAL SMS FREE

July 3rd, 2009 Duane 3 comments

Bharti Airtel, India’s leading GSM operator, today launched a new

scheme with 7000 Local Airtel2Airtel SMS free for its customers in Andhra Pradesh
circle. In order to avail this offer, customers need to recharge with Rs 70 and instantly get
7000 local own network SMS free.

Validity of this SMS pack will be 30 days. The Own Net SMS pack provides a flexible
and affordable option to and send 7000 SMS to near and dear at FREE.

AIRTEL LIFETIME PREPAID AT RS.1

One of India’s leading telecom service provider Bharti

Airtel has announced an affordable way to stay connected with family and friends.Airtel
made a big announcement for its subscribers offering Lifetime Validity for Re1 for
TamilNadu subscribers to opt out one can do a easy recharge of Re1 and existing
customers can opt out lifetime for just Rs 2 which comes with talk time for Rs 5 .

This comes at a time when operator like Read more…

Categories: AIRTEL

BHARTI AIRTEL SLASHES GULF ISD RATES BY

18%
June 25th, 2009 Duane 4 comments
 Bharti
Airtel, India’s leading GSM operator, has slashed ISD call charges by 18% for its mobile
& landline customers across the country. ISD calls to select Gulf countries have been
reduced from current Rs 8.50/min to Rs 6.99/min.

In order to avail the reduced rates, one needs to purchase a “VCC” (Virtual Calling
Card). This can be obtained from any AIRTEL retailer across the country Read more…

Categories: AIRTEL

AIRTEL INTRODUCES INDIA’S 1ST ANDROID

PHONE
June 23rd, 2009 Duane 1 comment

On 22 June we shared “AIRTEL TO LAUNCH GOOGLE PHONE2

IN INDIA” , today AIRTEL and HTC announced the launch of India ’ s 1st Android ™
powered mobile phone .The HTC Magic Airtel has been bringing bringing innovative &
cutting edge technologies to its customers.

With the launch of the Android ™ powered “HTC Magic” opens a new arena for
customers (and also the software developer community) to interact, so they can bring new
applications for Android-based phones.

The introduction of the Android ™ platform in India is a step in this Read more…

Categories: AIRTEL, MOBILE PHONE

AIRTEL TO LAUNCH GOOGLE PHONE2 IN INDIA

June 22nd, 2009 Tarun 2 comments
 Telecom
service provider Airtel is all set to launch Google phone 2 that runs on Google Android
operating system in India and said to be priced around Rs 25,000.The phone is likely to
be bundled with talk time, data plans VAS and SD card for storage and lots of lucrative
offer.

We have also learnt that Google Phone will also launch its unlocked version under the
brand name HTC in India Android is based on the open source platform for mobile
devices.

Using these smart phones, one can download a wide number of Read more…

Categories: AIRTEL

AIRTEL CROSSES 5MILLION SUBSCRIBER

MARK IN DELHI
June 16th, 2009 Sanjay Bafna 2 comments

India’s Leading GSM Mobile service provider Bharti

Airtel today announced that its subscriber base has crossed five million marks in the
Delhi & NCR circle making it the first mobile operator to achieve this landmark in a
metro circle.
Bharti Airtel, which crossed the subscriber base of 100 million in the country last month,
said it added the last one million subscribers in only 13 months in the Delhi -NCR circle
that already boasts of a mobile penetration of almost 100 per cent.

According to the figures provided by Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) the
GSM-based mobile operators’ body, Bharti Airtel had Read more…

Categories: AIRTEL

AIRTEL TO UNLOCK iPHONE 3G IN INDIA!

June 15th, 2009 Tarun 4 comments

Good news for iphone3G owners in India Airtel will now

officially allow you to unlock iPhone3G handsets and use with other networks after
buying a handset from them with additional fee though this is not a statement from the
official Airtel but Apple website says so where it shows that Airtel offers authorized
unlocking which is quoted in Apple Global support page
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1937 .

Does it really mean what it shows what you think ?Either Airtel guys have been
instructed to keep this option locked to themselves or there is a mistake on the Apple site
we will dig out the details soon!

The snap shot from Apple support page Read more…

Categories: AIRTEL

WIN FREE TALK TIME WITH AIRTEL’S

JACKPOT
June 13th, 2009 Sanjay Bafna 1 comment
 Bharti Airtel is providing its pre-paid customers a
chance to win a Talk time as a jackpot. The new offer guarantees the customer free talk
time.We are delighted to launch this offer to all our pre-paid customers,” said Venkatesh
V, CEO, mobile services, Bharti Airtel Ltd, Karnataka. “After pioneering affordable
mobile services, Airtel is taking another step forward to connect deeper with its pre-paid
customer base and delight them. This full talk time offer helps Airtel customers
communicate more with their loved ones and stay more connected, sans cost barriers. We
hope all our pre-paid customers utilise this ‘full value for money’ offer and benefit
immensely from it”.

To avail the free Talk Time offer the only Read more…

Categories: AIRTEL

AIRTEL WON BEST SERVICE PROVIDER OF THE

YEAR
June 8th, 2009 Sanjay Bafna 4 comments

Airtel, the leading Integrated Telecom services provider, has

won top honours at the 2009 Frost & Sullivan Asia Pacific ICT Awards.Bharti Airtel was
named the Service Provider of the Year and Wireless Service Provider of the Year in the
Asia Pacific region for its exemplary performance.

The Frost & Sullivan awards seek to recognize companies that have pushed the
boundaries of excellence, rising above the competition and demonstrating outstanding
performance. Read more…

Categories: AIRTEL

BHARTI AIRTEL LAUNCHES JOURNALIST CARD

June 7th, 2009 Duane 4 comments
 Bharti Aritel Ltd India’s leading mobile service on Sunday
launched a Journalist Card an exclusive product for the media fraternity of Meghalaya
addressing the media Bharti Airtel Ltd Chief Operating Officer Sudipto Chowdhury said
The Journalist Card is a prepaid complimentary Start Up Kit. On recharge by any
denomination Recharge Voucher the benefit of Closed User Group (CUG) calls within
the group is at 30 paise per minute can be available.

Chowdhury said for enrolling in this plan, a media customer would not have to pay any
security deposit and activation charge. The waivers could avail the facility by

Airtel Maharashtra today announced the launch of new Bada Top Up recharge at Rs 150
for Prepaid customers in Maharashtra and Goa Telecom Circle. This new Bada Top-Up
will benefit entire Prepaid customer base of Airtel in Maharashtra and Goa giving them
more value suiting their usage.

Airtel has introduced bada top up at a reduced price point of Rs 150 offering full talk
time earlier all the Bada-Top up comes at Rs.222, Rs.333 and Rs.444 etc. Read more…

Categories: AIRTEL

AIRTEL OFFERS TRIP TO T20 WORLD CUP

FINAL AT LORDS
June 1st, 2009 Duane 10 comments

Airtel is offering its customers the chance to win loads of prizes, among them being a
Trip for Two to Lords to watch the T20 World Cup Final. Customers need to subscribe to
a Rs 3 Cricket Pack by dialling 54321 & automatically become eligible for the contest. In
case of subscription to different packs, greater are the chances of winning.

In order to ensure eligibility, one needs to have the pack activated on all the days that T20
matches are played. Customers can also subscribe via SMS by sending Read more…
Categories: AIRTEL

AIRTEL OFFERS RS 1000 FREE TALKTIME WITH

DIGITAL TV
May 29th, 2009 Duane 6 comments

Bharti Airtel India’s leading telecom service provider

today announced the launch of the Magic Dekho Talktime Pao offer on its DTH service
known as digital TV. With this offer for Airtel Prepaid Mobile customers across the
country where on buying a digital TV connection at Rs. 2000 with 3 months of Super
Value Pack will get Own Net TalkTime up to 1000 minutes.

This offer is valid for Airtel Prepaid Mobile customer and they receives 1000 minutes of
local Airtel to Airtel talktime for customers in the southern region, need buy a digital
TV from Airtel at Rs 2000 with 5 months of South Value Pack and receive 750 minutes
of local Airtel to Airtel talktime.The offer is valid only till June 30, 2009.

To avail the offer, a airtel customers has to Read more…

Categories: AIRTEL

SINGTEL SHARE IN BHARTI-AIRTEL MAY FALL

19 PERCENT
May 28th, 2009 Duane 4 comments

With talks for the BHARTI-MTN merger underway since 25 May,

SingTel could see its stake fall to a significant extent after the merger. Singapore
Telecommunications (SingTel), is one of the major stakeholders in Bharti Airtel as per a
Citigroup report, “SingTel, which operates in Singapore and Australia, has no direct
involvement in the deal but its current 30.5 per cent stake in Bharti (will) get diluted to
19.4 per cent,” As per the same report, SingTel will become a smaller shareholder in a
larger entity.

A spokesperson of SingTel was quoted by agencies as saying that it would continue to be

actively involved in due diligence and key aspects of the transaction. Read more…

Categories: AIRTEL

AIRTEL LAUNCHES NET PC

May 23rd, 2009 Sanjay Bafna 2 comments

Indias leading Mobile operator Airtel launched

its Net PC initiative that provides Internet connectivity to users without the need to invest
in personal computers (PC). Till now, only the state-owned telecom operators Mahanagar
Telecom Nigam(MTNL) and Bharat Sanchar Nigam(BSNL) offered similar products in
collaboration with hardware maker Novatium.

Airtel net PC is available for Rs.7,999, the no-frills PC will offer customers the choice of
three Internet plans in a monthly price band of Rs.699-Rs.1,199, which would include
Microsoft’s Office Suite software.

Airtel is offering net PC with three tariff Pack Read more…

Categories: AIRTEL

AIRTEL LAUNCHES STD PACK FOR DELHI

May 22nd, 2009 Sanjay Bafna 4 comments

Airtel today announced the launch of anew STD pack priced at

Rs 47 which is offering STD calls at 75 paise per minute across India. The pack comes
with a 30 days validity period.Shashi Arora, CEO – Bharti Airtel Limited (Mobile
Services) Delhi & NCR said,Airtel has launched this cost effective recharge voucher with
a Read more…
Categories: AIRTEL

AIRTEL BRINGS AEROMOBILE SERVICE

May 21st, 2009 Sanjay Bafna 4 comments

Airtel customers will soon be able to make and receive

calls on their mobiles, send text messages and even access data while traveling on
selected international airlines.Airtel has entered into an agreement with an inflight
solutions firm,an outgoing call will cost Rs 188 per minute while it will be Rs 24 per
minute for incoming calls.

Passengers will be charged Rs 41 for an outgoing SMS while incoming SMSs will be free
Airtel will be the first Indian telco to offer this facility to its customers. Globally, several
operators across Europe, the US and Australia offer inflight services. Read more…

Categories: AIRTEL

AIRTEL CROSSES 100 MILLION SUBSCRIBER

BASE MARK
May 16th, 2009 Sanjay Bafna 7 comments

India’s leading mobile service provider and telecom major Airtel has announced that it
has become the first service provider to cross 10-crore subscribe base across India.With
10-crore subscribers, Airtel has become the third largest single country mobile services
operator in the world and sixth largest integrated telecom company globally. Bharti
Enterprises Chairman and Group CEO Sunil Mittal has urged the government to
announce a stable spectrum regime to boost growth of the telecom sector.

After having started its service in

1995 as Bharti Tele-Ventures, the company crossed the 7.5-crore customer mark in
August 2008 and 5-crore mark in October 2007, making it one of the fastest growing
telecom company in the world. The first 2.5-crore subscribers were Read more…

Categories: AIRTEL
AIRTEL ALL SET TO SCALE 100 MILLION MARK
May 1st, 2009 Sanjay Bafna 7 comments

Airtel is set to become the first Indian operator with 100

million subscribers nationwide, in all probability within a few weeks at the end of March,
Bharti Airtel’s overall subscriber base was 96.6 million after including the subscribers
added in April, its total subscriber base is expected to hit 99 million Airtel added 32.5
million subscribers in 2008-09 with an average of 2.7 million subscribers per month.

Airtel added a record 8.37 million new subscribers in January-March quarter, according
to a statement issued by company. These numbers suggest that Airtel’s mobile subscriber
base alone is already to 97 million (93.92 million of its 96.6 million subscribers in March
were mobile subscribers

Indias leading Telecom operator Airtel is planning to launch “Virtual Phones”, a

technology that allows users to use as many as 10 different numbers from a single
phone.Developed by Bharti-owned Comviva Technologies, the application comes
embedded with the SIM card and offers users to “opt” for his number whenever the user
requires it.

The user group will be password protected with each user having his own password to
access his phone.

Airtel is reportedly undertaking field trials of the service. Comviva, in co-operation with
South African operator MTN, already has the service in South Africa. Airtel expects the
technology to be operational in two months time and India might see the first services roll
out in the rural areas of the country. Read more…

Categories: AIRTEL

AIRTEL LAUNCHES SOUTH AT Rs.1 OFFER

April 28th, 2009 Sanjay Bafna No comments
 Bharti Airtel announced the launch of South at Re1
pack for its subscribers across Kerala. The new scheme priced at Rs 14 allows
subscribers to make calls to any number in the southern states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka,
Andhra Pradesh and Kerala at Re 1 per minute.

SMS charges to any number in these circles will be at 50 paisa per SMS. Local calls and
SMS will be charged at the same rates.

Categories: AIRTEL

AIRTEL TO ROLL BACK UNLIMITED GPRS

SERVICE
April 25th, 2009 Tarun 11 comments

TelecomTalk has learned that Airtel is on its move to stop

unlimited mobile office service on pan India bases, and mobile office service will be
rejuvenated into rental free GPRS service for a price tag of 0.30P for 50kb subscribers
can activate airtel zero rental gprs service by dialing *567# or by sending a text message
to 56789 as AGPRS.

Five years back Airtel was offering free unlimited GPRS named as NET ON PHONE
(NOP) it was said that airtel allowed free GPRS only to make awareness of GPRS among
the subscribers and to try it; the idea was to get more customers for GPRS service and
later to back off the service.

The NOP service from airtel proved to be a great hit among common man later when the
gprs service was grown as expected they stopped the free NOP service and started selling
Airtel Mobile office service. Read more…
Categories: AIRTEL

AIRTEL LAUNCHES MY AIRTEL MY OFFER FOR

PREPAID USER
April 17th, 2009 Sanjay Bafna 5 comments

Airtel has introduced a unique initiative called My Airtel

My Offer which enables the prepaid customers to know various offers suiting their
individual requirements without having to receive all kinds of SMSs.

My Airtel My Offer is a service platform that will assist the Airtel prepaid user to choose
the best available product/service across tariff packages, recharge denominations, validity
periods, value-added service and any other local promotional offer currently available on
the Airtel network.

The products and offers have been customized to meet the requirements of Airtel
customers on the basis of their past usage behaviors,current recharge behavior and VAS
preferences.

Customers can dial 12131(toll free) and listen to offer of the day in Marathi, Hindi and
English.To avail this service, Airtel Prepaid customers can Read more…

Categories: AIRTEL

AIRTEL GOES TO VILLAGE WITH MERA NOKIA

April 11th, 2009 Tarun 2 comments
 It seems like competition is making existing
operators to take innovative steps to attract rural subscribers as part of this strategy Airtel
has introduced series of Airtel Nokia Vans to reach villagers in remotest parts of
Maharashtra.

Manu Talwar CEO Mobility Bharti Airtel cited apart from providing innovative products
and services, we also drive expansion of category across remote locations to enable more
and more customers going mobile with exclusive offers. The Airtel Nokia Van is creating
awareness to villagers regarding how to use mobile, how to use free sms schemes, sms
recharge using Radio on handset and clicking snaps on mobile.

These vans are also providing a host of handset bundle offers giving a free Read more…

Categories: AIRTEL, GENERAL

AIRTEL CROSSES ONE CRORE CUSTOMER

MILESTONE IN KARNATAKA
April 11th, 2009 Sanjay Bafna 5 comments

India’s leading telecom major Airtel

announced that it has crossed the one crore customer milestone in Karnataka Telecom
circle, the highest by a single telecom circle in India.This achievement is an ample
testimony of Airtel and apposes ability to offer world class network and seamless
connectivity coupled with innovative, pertinent and affordable services.

Airtel added 35 lakh customers to its network in 2008-09, increasing its market share in
the State to 43.6 per cent from 40.3 per cent, increasing the wireless penetration from 30
to 40 per cent, said Mr Venkatesh V Chief Executive Officer of Bharti Airtel, Karnataka.
Rural Karnataka made a significant contribution to Airtel’s growth.

Venkatesh said a tie-up with India Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative (IFFCO) had paid rich
dividends in Airtel’s efforts to drive into the rural market. With 2,000 cooperative
societies in Karnataka, Airtel hopes to expand its coverage in Read more…

Categories: AIRTEL

AIRTEL ROLLS OUT 16Mbps BROADBAND

April 6th, 2009 Tarun 4 comments

Your wireless internet connection has just got faster up

to 16Mbps after the launch of Photon from Tata Indicom and Reliance Net Connect high
speed internet connections by CDMA operators now it’s the turn of GSM operators .
Every day India’s broadband space is heating up with increasing number of competition
this is directly helping the common man.

Telecom Major Bharti Airtel has announced the launch of 16 Mbps broadband internet
access in three cities.The services will be initially available in Bangalore, Chennai, and
Delhi NCR region, with a subsequent roll out planned in Pune, Mumbai, Kolkata, and
Hyderabad few weeks later.

Presently Airtel Broadband offers speeds ranging from 4Mbps to 8Mbps.Company

official’s claim that the 16Mbps service is the first of its kind in the country.The average
broadband speed in India is 256 Kbps currently, while in countries such as France and
Korea exceeds 16 Mbps mark.

Airtel 16 Mbps Tariff plans: Read more…

Categories: AIRTEL

LANDLINE SERVICE PROVIDER CAN NOT USE

‘95′ SERIES ANYMORE
March 14th, 2009 Sanjay Bafna 2 comments
The 95 dialling, which was introduced for intra-state landline communication,

will soon be removed from all landline and Fix

wireless operator. However BSNL and Airtel already withdrawn the 95 dialing as the
Department of Telecommunication (DoT) is planning to introduce this level for mobile
services. In technical terms the first digit of a telephone number is called a level, like 9.
DoT has communicated this decision to fixed-line/landline service providers, like
BSNL/MTNL that they must stop the 95 dialling facility. From hereafter, the mobile
number will not give away the identity of service providers, which is the case right now,
like BSNL numbers start with 94, Tata and Reliance with 92 and 93 respectively.

The DoT has also decided to vacate levels such as 92, 93 and 94, which are currently
exclusively available with mobile service providers such as Tata Communications for
CDMA, Anil Ambani-led Reliance Communication for CDMA and BSNL, respectively.
Now, these numbers will also be available to other mobile service providers in the
country.

The Operators need to keep some spare capacity as numbers discontinued by current
subscribers cannot be immediately allotted to new subscribers. With the increasing
number of mobile users, even the entire level 9 will fall short. So level 8 will also be
opened for mobile operators soon. DoT had earlier proposed to start using Level 8 from
March, but the implementation has been postponed for some time.

Categories: AIRTEL, BSNL, GENERAL, MTNL, RELIANCE, TATA INDICOM

RELIANCE ADDS 3.3 MN CUSTOMERS IN

FEBRUARY
March 14th, 2009 Sanjay Bafna 4 comments
 Reliance Communications (RCom) has added 3.38 million new
customers in February 2009 on both GSM and CDMA networks, increasing its total
subscriber base to 69.38 million.However,this is below RCom’s subscriber addition of
around 5 million recorded during the previous month.

At present, RCom is the second largest operator by subscriber numbers, while Bharti
Airtel retains the top slot with 91.11 million users. Vodafone with 65.92 million is in the
third slot, followed by state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) with 44.18 million
users

With the additions done and dealt with, let’s have a look at the India’s Top 5
Mobile Operators in terms of user base are as follows.

• Airtel 91,114,971
• Reliance 69,381,000 (Gsm+Cdma Mobile)
• Vodafone 65,920,902
• BSNL 44,180,880
• Idea 41,518,613

RCom, which was mainly CDMA-based service provider, had launched GSM services in
January 2009 across 22 circles in the country.

Categories: AIRTEL, BSNL, IDEA, RELIANCE,

AIRTEL’S SMS BANAJA FOR WOMEN’S DAY:

Airtel is celebrating ” Women’s Day” in very different way this year by offering some
kickshaws stuffs.Today they announced the launch of ‘ SMS Bonanza‘ offer’ offering
free SMS.
The exciting offer has been designed to celebrate the special day where women
customers can send upto 2000 FREE SMSs with a recharge of only Rs 11. This offer will
be valid only for prepaid customers across Mumbai, Maharashtra & Goa circle.

Know as the Sunday SMS pack customers can either recharge at a retail outlet with only
Rs 11 between March 4th or 7th or can SMS ‘SUNDAY’ to 250 (toll free number) from
March 4th to 6th to avail this 2000 FREE SMS pack .

Categories: AIRTEL
AIRTEL BRINGS UNLIMITED YAHOO! ACCESS
AT Rs.10
March 4th, 2009 Sanjay Bafna 2 comments

Airtel and Yahoo! have announced a new Value Added Service “Yahoo! Zone” with
Unlimited Access of Yahoo Email and Yahoo Messenger specifically for Airtel Mobile
Customers . The VAS dubbed as Yahoo! Zone offers to Airtel users unlimited Yahoo
email and Yahoo Messanger services for just Rs.10 for 7 Days.

 E Mail on mobile is just,Like as desktop Mail.

 Yahoo! On Mobile is simple ,friendly and easy to use.
 The first 2,000 subscribers get Yahoo! goodies absolutely free and 100 lucky
subscribers get Yahoo! pen drives. Read more…
Categories: AIRTEL

AIRTEL LAUNCHES UNLIMITED INTERNET

SERVICE FOR BLACKBERRY USERS
March 3rd, 2009 Tarun No comments

Airtel today announced launch of new tariff plan for blackberry users offering unlimited
access to email and Instant message service on Blackberry mobile for Rs 499 per month
known as Personal Mail Service Plan which is highly meant for users who needs 24
hours connectivity via messenger and email service.

The personal email service plan supports 10 email accounts with POP3/IMAP access and
supporting popular instant message services which includes Google talk, Yahoo
messenger,Msn and blackberry messenger.

Categories: AIRTEL
AIRTEL EXTENDS VALUE ADDED TOP UP FOR
MP & CG
February 21st, 2009 Tarun 1 comment

Airtel has extended its Value

Added Rs 100 Top up validity from 3months to 6 months for subscribers in Madhya
Pradesh and Chattisgarh.

Subscribers who opt for Value added top up can call make Airtel to Airtel mobile calls
within MP & Chattisgarh from 11 pm to 6am at 20 paisa per min and during day time at
50 paisa per min all mobile calls within MP & CG can be made at 60 paisa per min
Landline calls are charged Rs 1.00 per min and STD calls at Rs1.50 per min.

Categories: AIRTEL

AIRTEL LIFETIME PREPAID FOR Rs 49

February 11th, 2009 Tarun No comments

By introducing Lifetime
Prepaid 49 Bharti Airtel intends to further expand the market,and make mobile services
more affordable to prepaid users in TamilNadu.Bharti Airtel has introduced yet another
value added service in the form of Lifetime Prepaid for Rs 49.
By introducing Lifetime Prepaid for just Rs 49,Anirban Ghosh COO Mobile service
Bharthi Airtel says it intends to further expand the market,and make mobile services
more affordable to its prepaid customers in TamilNadu.With Lifetime Prepaid 49, Airtel
prepaid subscribers will get free incoming for life.Besides, they can continue to enjoy
lifetime validity benefits by using a minimum of Rs 200 recharge every 180 days.
Existing users too can avail the offer by recharging with Rs 48.

Categories: AIRTEL

AIRTEL INTRODUCES SMS DHAMAKA PACK

February 5th, 2009 Tarun No comments

Airtel,India’s leading mobile service provider today announced the launch of Dhamaka
SMS Pack,which aims at providing an exciting value for money option to its Pre-paid
customers in the Delhi & NCR region.The Dhamaka SMS Pack will give Airtel
customers another option to stay in touch with their friends and relatives more
often.Airtel customers subscribing to the latest Dhamaka SMS Pack will enjoy free SMS
with a validity of 1 month.

The Pack Comes Under Following Denomination

Rs 13 -30 Free Local sms
Rs 42 -100 Free Local and National sms
Rs 112- 1112 Local sms

According to Mr.Shashi Arora,CEO Bharti Airtel Limited Mobile Services Delhi &
NCR said,The latest endeavor to introduce Dhamaka SMS Pack is introduced after
studying the SMS usage of customers and the product has been specially designed to
cater to our customers.We are positive that the value proposition of the product will
greatly benefit customers with high SMS usage especially the youth.

Categories: AIRTEL

EXCLUSIVE:AIRTEL TO LAUNCH BLACKBERRY

JAVELIN
January 15th, 2009 Tarun No comments
Airtel is all set to launch Blackberry Javelin to give direct competition to Vodafone
Blackberry Strom in Indian Market the launch of Blackberry Javelin is expected this
month.

Blackberry Javelin comes with a faster processor of 512 MHz and 256 MB onboard
memory with 3.2 MP camera with high resolution display of 480×360 HVGA and comes
with Built in GPS which supports Airtel wave finder.We are still not sure about the price
but we will keep you updated as soon we get the information.

Update:BlackBerry Javelin also know as Blackberry Curve 8900 has been plunged to
public by Reliance Airtel and Vodafone priced Rs27,990.

Categories: AIRTEL

GO LIFETIME FOR Rs99

January 12th, 2009 Tarun 3 comments

Airtel introduces lifetime prepaid card for Rs 99 under Rs 99 lifetime prepaid scheme,a
subscriber can stay mobile by recharging the card with a minimum of Rs 200 every 180
days to continue using the lifetime validity benefits.

Subscribers will receive talktime of Rs 10 with this pack from Jan 12 2009 lifetime
prepaid 99 will be available to all existing as well as new Airtel mobile users.

Categories: AIRTEL

Airtel Launches Value For Money Prepaid Vouchers

For Delhi Users
December 14th, 2008 Tarun No comments

Now make STD calls to any network be it mobile or landline

across the country for just Re1 per minute for 3 months to avail this Airtel user has to
recharge with Rs 99 and make STD calls for Just Re 1 for 3 months whereas the same
offer is available for 30days at Rs 40 .
 In the case of local calls now Airtel Delhi users can call local
outgoing calls to Airtel mobile for 50 paisa per minute and local calls to any other mobile
network at 60 paisa per minute for 3 months to avail this offer user has to recharge with
Rs 124 the same offer is also available for 30 days at Rs 49.

With Rs 201 users can enjoy the benefit of STD calls at Re 1 per minute and local calls at
50 paisa per minute and local airtel to other mobile at 60 paisa per minute for 90 days the
same offer is also available for 30 days at Rs 77.
This offer is only valid for all Prepaid and Life time Customers in DELHI and NCR
region.

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get notified about future posts.

Categories: AIRTEL

Bharti Airtel bags the Best Mobile Music TV or Video

Service at the GSMA Asia Mobile Award 2008
November 24th, 2008 Tarun 1 comment

Airtel was bestowed at the GSMA Asia Mobile awards 2008 for its Music on Demand
service .Airtel bagged the prestigious award in the category “Best Mobile Music,TV or
Video service”. Airtel’s Music on demand service allows users to call in on a voice short
code and listen to the music of their choice.

If you like this post you may subscribe to our RSS feeds, E-Mail alerts, or SMS alerts to
get notified about future posts.

(telecomtalk.info/category/airtel)

Airtel
introduces
lifetime
prepaid at
a lower
price point
of Rs 495
Another Industry first from Airtel To further expand
the market and make mobile services more
affordable Free incoming for life and Full Talk
Time on all future recharges
17 May 2007 , New Delhi : Bharti Airtel, India’s
leading telecom services provider today
introduced its popular Lifetime Prepaid at a lower
price point of Rs 495 only. Airtel is the first mobile
services provider in the country to offer Lifetime
Prepaid at this price point. This is a significant
initiative that further reinforces Airtel’s commitment
to make mobile more affordable and provide
greater value to the Airtel prepaid customer.

Mr. Sanjay Kapoor, President, Mobile Services,

Bharti Airtel Limited said, "As industry leaders,
Airtel has always been at the forefront of driving
growth and expanding the market horizon in the
telecom space. Lifetime Prepaid is a revolutionary
concept that we had earlier introduced to the
Indian mobile user. Our 495 Lifetime product is at
an attractive price point and it marks our strategic
intent to drive affordability and consumption in the
prepaid category further. Going forward, we will
continue to explore innovative products such as
these that will enhance our customer’s value and
significantly contribute towards increasing Airtel’s
market and revenue share in the future.”

The 495 Lifetime Prepaid offers an Airtel user full

talk time on all future recharges. Under the new
Lifetime Prepaid, the customer can stay mobile by
paying just Rs. 495 and using a minimum of Rs
200 every 180 days to continue enjoying lifetime
validity benefits. With effect from May 18, 2007,
Lifetime Prepaid 495 is available to all existing as
well as new Airtel mobile users. Therefore, even
existing Airtel Easy Lifetime prepaid subscribers
can choose to avail this offer by recharging with
Rs 495. Airtel has always been a frontrunner in
providing affordable services to its subscribers, be
it with its Rs 200 recharge, Lifetime prepaid and
Easy Lifetime prepaid.

Rs 495 Lifetime Prepaid Tariff Details:

MRP Rs. 495

Talktime Rs 10

Processing Fees Rs 430.55

Validity Lifetime

* Existing Lifetime prepaid tariffs are applicable

About Bharti Airtel Limited

Bharti Airtel Limited, a group company of Bharti
Enterprises, is one of India's leading private sector
providers of telecommunications services with an
aggregate of 40.80 million customers as of end of
April '07, consisting of 38.89 million mobile
customers. Bharti Airtel has been rated among 10
 best performing companies in the world in the
BusinessWeek IT 100 list.

Bharti Airtel is structured into three strategic

business units – Mobile services, Broadband &
Telephone (B&T) services and Enterprise
services. The mobile business provides mobile &
fixed wireless services using GSM technology
across 23 telecom circles. The B&T business
provides broadband & telephone services in 94
cities. The Enterprise services provide end-to-end
telecom solutions to corporate customers and
national & international long distance services to
carriers. All these services are provided under the
Airtel brand. Airtel's high-speed optic fibre network
currently spans over 40,000 kms covering all the
major cities in the country. The company has two
international landing stations in Chennai that
connects two submarine cable systems – i2i to
Singapore and SEA-ME-WE-4 to Europe. For
more information, visit www.bhartiairtel.in

www.prdomain.com/.../B/BhartiAirtel/.../200751841967.htm

New Product Development, Business Development with experience in Rural distribution,

customer lifecycle management. Looked at market entry into a foreign market for
pharmaceuticals, and now working on one in Telecommunications.

Abhilash Somanchi’s Specialties:

Market Planning, Product design and rollout,Process setup.

Category Manager- Gaming and Contests

Bharti Airtel Limited

(Public Company; BOM:532454; Telecommunications industry)
April 2009 — Present (4 months)
Looking after gaming and contesting initiatives on Airtel across mobile platforms.

•
Product Manager - New Product Development

Bharti Airtel Limited

(Public Company; BOM:532454; Telecommunications industry)
January 2008 — March 2009 (1 year 3 months)
Responsible for Launching New products in Value Added Services aimed at the rural
segment
End to end product managment, from concept to launch, including go to market and
communication strategy

SPOC - Sales and Marketing Sri Lanka

Bharti Airtel Limited

(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; BTVL; Telecommunications industry)
March 2007 — December 2007 (10 months)
Responsible for all sales and marketing activities in Sri Lanka for Airtel from an operational
standpoint for the Launch.

Young Leader Marketing

Bharti Airtel Limited

(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; Telecommunications industry)
June 2006 — March 2007 (10 months)
Did 2 stints - first stint in rural distribution in Orissa to improve penetration. Second Stint in
Customer service to better manage customer lifecyle.

Summer Intern

Glenmark Pharmaceuticals
(Public Company; 1001-5000 employees; Pharmaceuticals industry)
May 2005 — June 2005 (2 months)
Was responsible for analysing the Egyptian Pharmaceutical market, and coming up with an
entry strategy for Glenmark Pharmaceuticals to enter the Egyptian Market.

Abhilash Somanchi’s Education

• Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta

MBA , Marketing , 2004 — 2006

Activities and Societies:

 Literature - Was writer for College Magazine, Quizzing - Active participant and winner of
several quizzes held on campus.
• Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur

B.Tech (Hons) , Instrumentation Engineering , 2000 — 2004

(www.linkedin.com/in/somanchi)

In order to propel its growth, Bharati Airtel is planning to target the rural areas of the
Northeast region. It has planned to set up 2500 Airtel Service Centres (ASCs) in the two
telecom circles of Northeast and Assam.

At present the Airtel Northeast subscriber base is at 2.7 million and in the last four years
the company invested around Rs 1000 crore in this region.Airtel earns a revenue of
around Rs. 75 crore from the Northeast region. Of the 37000 villages in the Northeast
region, Airtel is present in at least 22,000.

As the penetration of mobile telephony in the region is around 20 to 21 percent it offers

enough opportunity to tap the huge untapped areas.

Bharti Airtel’s net profit up by 27% - October 31st, 2008

Bharti Airtel’s net profit up by 27%

Friday, October 31, 2008

NEW DELHI: Bharti Airtel, country's top mobile operator, has

posted a 27 per cent increase in its quarterly profit to Rs 2,046
crore on huge subscriber addition, but foreign exchange loss of
Rs 586 crore and declining tariffs weighed on the growth rate.

Although its revenue crossed Rs 9,000 crore in the July-

September quarter and customer base rose to eight crore, the
company suffered a foreign exchange loss of Rs 586 crore due
to a weaker rupee, which fell about nine per cent per cent
against the dollar in July-September.

Bharti, in which Singapore-based SingTel owns about 31 per

cent, had reported a net profit of Rs 1,614 crore in the same
quarter last year.
Shares in Bharti, India's third-most valuable firm with a market
value of about Rs 1.16 lakh crore, were up 0.14 per cent at Rs
615.90 on the BSE after reaching an eight per cent gain earlier.

"The company has to write mark-to-market the entire loan

irrespective whether it is hedged or not. As long it is hedged,
the impact will be notional."

"We hedge a significant portion of our loans. The loss of Rs 586

crore, the net finance cost on loans is due to the accounting on
foreign exchange and derivatives. This happens in every
quarter. When rupee appreciates, it results into a gain and
vice versa," Bharti Airtel deputy CEO Akhil Gupta said.

Bharti Airtel which became cash positive for the first time,
however, ruled out any move to reward the shareholders.

"There is no immediate plans to give dividend to its

shareholders. There is so much of capex going forward and 3G
auction coming, it is wrong time to talk about dividends," he
said.

Bharti Airtel comes with a new market approach

August 27th, 2008 • Related • Filed Under

Bharti Airtel is India’s leading integrated telecom company and it has been a pioneering
force in the telecom sector and today enjoys a strong nationwide presence. It has been at
the forefront of the telecom revolution and has transformed the telecom sector with its
world class services built on leading edge technologies. Recently, Bharti has entered into
the retail. It has also entered into a joint venture with Wal- Mart for setting up the supply
chain, logistics and cash and carry to support the rapidly growing retail market in India
Bharti has received incremental spectrum in 8 circles and has applied for additional
spectrum in seven more circles.

With the event of allocations, there will be a positive impact on the growth factor and it
would also result in better capex efficiency. Bharti’s 1QFY09 earnings grew 34% YOY
and 9.3% Q.Q to Rs.20.25B ( verses estimation of Rs. 18.8B). Revenues grew 43.7%
YOY and 8.5% Q.Q to Rs.84.8B, which is 1.5% ahead of the estimated target. It has been
reported that the net derivative and forex loss of Rs. 1.48 B, during the quarter EBITDA
was in lime at Rs. 35.2B. The stock is trading at an EV/EB ITDA of 10.3X FY09 & 8.2X
FY10 and P/E of 17.2X FY09 and 14.5X FY10. The tower segment is expected to be a
key margin driver for Bharti. Also, Bharti is likely to maintain its leadership in the
mobility markets, while it continues to invest in an aggressive manner
shabbir.in/bharti-airtel-comes-with-a-new-market-approach/ -

Bharti airtel target to plan northest rural areas

In order to propel its growth, Bharati Airtel is planning to target the rural areas of the
Northeast region. It has planned to set up 2500 Airtel Service Centres (ASCs) in the two
telecom circles of Northeast and Assam.

At present the Airtel Northeast subscriber base is at 2.7 million and in the last four years
the company invested around Rs 1000 crore in this region.Airtel earns a revenue of

around Rs. 75 crore from the Northeast region. Of the 37000 villages in the Northeast
region, Airtel is present in at least 22,000.

As the penetration of mobile telephony in the region is around 20 to 21 percent it offers

enough opportunity to tap the huge untapped areas.

(www.wirelessduniya.com/?p=1107

sales strategy of bharti airtel

Bharti Airtel (BOM:532454) 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.[1][2] The company reported a net profit of Rs. 64.0
billion in 2007/08, up 57.4% from Rs. 40.6 billion in 2006/07.[2] Globally, Bharti Airtel
is the 3rd largest in-country mobile operator by subscriber base, behind China Mobile and
China Unicom.[3] In India, the company has a 24.6% share of the wireless services
market, followed by 17.7% for Reliance Communications and 17.4% for Vodafone Essar.
[4]
In 2007/08, Bharti Airtel became the first telecom operator in India to reach a subscriber
base of 64.3 million and had the highest net subscriber additions of 25.3 million in a year.
[2] In the 3rd quarter of 2008/09, the company added a record 8.3 million new customers,
bringing its subscriber base to a total of 85.7 million.[5] In the same quarter, the
Enterprise Services segment increased its fiber optics cable network to 90,205 route-
kilometers and the Mobile Services segment increased population coverage to 79% with
the addition of 7 new census towns and 17,361 new non-census towns and villages.[6]
[edit] Business Overview
Bharti Airtel is India's largest telecom company by subscriber base.[1] It offers GSM
services in all of India's 23 telecom circles.[1]
[edit] Business and Financial Metrics
Total Revenue and Profit after Tax from 2003 to 2008 for Bharti Airtel[2]
In 2007/08, Bharti Airtel had total revenues of Rs. 270 billion, up 46.6% from Rs. 184
billion in 2006/07.[2] Its net profit was Rs. 64.0 billion, up 57.4% from Rs. 40.6 billion
the previous year.[2] The company grew segment revenues by 54.9% in the Mobile
Services segment, 27.2% in the Telemedia Services segment, 25.3% in the Enterprise
Services (Carriers) segment and 49.2% in the Enterprise Services (Corporates) segment.
[2] These increases were attributed to a 64.7% increase in the company's subscriber base
from 39.0 million in 2006/07 to 64.3 million in 2007/08.[2] As of 31 March 2008, Bharti
Airtel's population coverage stood at 71% and its fiber optics cable network was 73,787
route-kilometers.[2]
In the 3rd quarter of 2008/09, Bharti Airtel had total revenues of Rs. 96.3 billion, up
38.3% from Rs. 69.6 billion in the 3rd quarter of 2007/08.[7] Its net profit was Rs. 21.6
billion, up 25.4% from Rs. 17.2 billion the same quarter of the previous year.[7] The
company grew segment revenues by 41.5% in the Mobile Services segment, 15.8% in the
Telemedia Services segment, 56.3% in the Enterprise Services (Carriers) segment and
23.8% in the Enterprise Services (Corporates) segment.[7] Again, these increases were
attributed to a 10.5% increase in the company's subscriber base from 77.5 million in the
2nd quarter of 2008/09 to 85.7 million in the 3rd quarter of the same year.[7] As of 31
December 2008, Bharti Airtel's population coverage stood at 79% and its fiber optics
cable network was 90,205 route-kilometers.[7]
Annual Data[2] Units 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

Total Customer Base 000s 7,141 11,842 20,926 39,013 64,268

Mobile Services 000s 6,504 10,984 19,579 37,141 61,985

Telemedia Services 000s 637 857 1,347 1,871 2,283

Based on Statement
of Operations
 Rs.
Revenue 50,369 81,558 116,641 184,202 270,122
million

Rs.
EBITDA 17,055 30,658 41,636 74,407 114,018
million

Cash Profit from Rs.

14,363 28,219 40,006 73,037 111,535
Operations million

Rs.
Earnings before Tax 5,527 15,832 23,455 46,784 73,115
million

Rs.
Net Profit 5,387 12,116 20,279 40,621 63,954
million

Key Ratios

Return on Equity
% 12.00% 23.70% 32.00% 43.10% 38.50%
(ROE)

Earnings per Share Rs.

3.15 6.53 10.78 21.43 34.23
(EPS) million

Contents
1 Business Overview
1.1 Business and Financial Metrics
1.2 Key Operating Metrics
1.3 Business Segments
1.3.1 Mobile Services (69.7% of revenue, 71.3% of EBIT, 76.2% of net profit)[8]
1.3.2 Telemedia Services (9.1% of revenue, 7.3% of EBIT, 7.6% of net profit)[8]
1.3.3 Enterprise Services - Carriers (14.0% of revenue, 13.6% of EBIT, 16.7% of net
profit)[8]
1.3.4 Enterprise Services - Corporates (4.4% of revenue, 6.3% of EBIT, 5.9% of net
profit)[8]
1.3.5 Passive Infrastructure Services (1.9% of revenue 1.1% of EBIT, 1.1% of net profit)
[8]
1.4 Shareholding Pattern
2 Key Trends and Forces
2.1 Decreasing ARPU and net profit margin offset by increasing subscriber additions
2.2 Average MoU could fall due to increasing rural demographic of new subscribers
2.3 Regulatory charges are between 17% and 26% of total revenues
2.4 Falling handset prices could increase wireless penetration rate in rural India
2.5 New government policy to facilitate faster rollout of 3G spectrum
2.6 ADC regime to end in October 2008
2.7 FDIs inflows increasing into the Indian telecom sector
3 Competition
3.1 Market Share
4 References
[edit] Key Operating Metrics

Source: Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) from June 2007 to December 2008 for
Bharti Airtel[7]
The following metrics are used as indicators of the company's health.
Average revenue per user (ARPU) per month is computed by dividing the company's
total revenues (excluding equipment sales) during a certain period by its average
customers in the same period and then dividing this result by the number of months in the
period. A higher ARPU is better for the company.
Churn is calculated by dividing the total number of disconnections during a certain period
by the average customers in the same period and then dividing the result by the number
of months in the period. A lower churn is better for the company.
Minutes of usage (MoU) is the duration (in minutes) for which a customer uses the
network. It is expressed over a period of one month. Higher MoU is better for the
company.
Subscriber base refers to the number of individuals that use or subscribe to Bharti Airtel's
services. A larger subscriber base is better for the company.
The table below shows key operating metrics for Bharti Airtel over the past 7
quarters.
Dec Sep Jun Mar Dec Sep Jun
Parameters Unit
2008 2008 2008 2008 2007 2007 2007

Customers 000s 88,270 79,988 71,777 64,268 57,341 50,950 44,676

Average
Revenue Per Rs. 324 331 350 357 358 366 390
User (ARPU)

Minutes of
Minutes 505 526 534 507 474 469 478
Usage (MoU)
Post-Paid
Voluntary % 1.1% 1.1% 1.0% 1.0% 0.9% 1.1% 1.1%
Churn

Post-Paid
Company- % 1.2% 1.4% 1.4% 1.5% 1.8% 2.1% 2.5%
Initiated Churn

Pre-Paid Churn % 2.9% 3.2% 3.8% 4.3% 3.9% 3.8% 4.0%

[edit] Business Segments

Segment Contribution to Total Revenue in 2007/08 for Bharti Airtel[2]

Bharti Airtel has 5 business segments: (i) Mobile Services; (ii) Telemedia Services; (iii)
Enterprise Services - Carriers; (iv) Enterprise Services - Coprorates; and (v) Passive
Infrastructure Services.
[edit] Mobile Services (69.7% of revenue, 71.3% of EBIT, 76.2% of net profit)[8]
The Mobile Services segment provides prepaid and postpaid mobile and fixed wireless
services in all of India's 23 telecom circles. In 2007/08, revenue and EBIT from this
segment stood at Rs. 218 billion and Rs. 59.3 billion respectively.[8] Net profit rose
71.9% from Rs. 29.6 billion in 2006/07 to Rs. 51.0 billion in 2007/08.[8]
Airtel offer mobile services using GSM technology on 900MHz and 1800MHz bands,
and are the largest wireless service provider in the country, based on the number of
customers. Airtel 93,923,248 mobile customers accounted for a customer market share of
24% of wireless market, as on March 31, 2009.
Airtel offer post-paid, pre-paid, roaming and value added services through their extensive
sales and distribution channel covering 1,191,323 outlets. Airtel network is present in
5,060 census towns and 414,906 non-census towns and villages in India, thus covering
approximately 81% of the country’s population. Post Airtel launch on January 12, 2009,
Airtel services are now fully operational in Sri Lanka. These services have been launched
on a state-of-the-art 3.5G network.
[edit] Telemedia Services (9.1% of revenue, 7.3% of EBIT, 7.6% of net profit)[8]
The Telemedia Services segment provides fixed line telephone and broadband (DSL)
services in 15 telecom circles across India. In 2007/08, revenue and EBIT from this
segment stood at Rs. 28.6 billion and Rs. 6.1 billion respectively.[8] Net profit rose 227%
from Rs. 1.6 billion in 2006/07 to Rs. 5.1 billion in 2007/08.[8]
[edit] Enterprise Services - Carriers (14.0% of revenue, 13.6% of EBIT, 16.7% of net
profit)[8]
The Enterprise Services - Carriers segment provides long distance voice and data services
to carrier customers and other Airtel segments. In 2007/08, revenue and EBIT from this
segment stood at Rs. 43.8 billion and Rs. 11.3 billion respectively.[8] Net profit rose
slightly from Rs. 11.1 billion in 2006/07 to Rs. 11.2 billion in 2007/08.[8]
[edit] Enterprise Services - Corporates (4.4% of revenue, 6.3% of EBIT, 5.9% of net
profit)[8]
The Enterprise Services - Corporates segment provides voice and data services to
corporates and SMEs. In 2007/08, revenue and EBIT from this segment stood at Rs. 13.9
billion and Rs. 5.2 billion respectively.[8] Net profit rose 89.0% from Rs. 2.1 billion in
2006/07 to Rs. 3.9 billion in 2007/08.[8]
[edit] Passive Infrastructure Services (1.9% of revenue 1.1% of EBIT, 1.1% of net profit)
[8]
In 2007/08, Bharti Airtel formed a joint venture with Vodafone Essar and Idea Cellular to
merge their respective passive infrastructure assets in 16 telecom circles across India. A
subsidiary, Bharti Infratel, was set up to manage the company's assets in this joint venture
and provide passive infrastructure services to all telecom operators in India on a non-
discriminatory basis. In the same year, revenue and EBIT from this segment stood at Rs.
6.0 billion and Rs. 1.2 billion.[8] Net profit was Rs. 0.74 million.[8]
[edit] Shareholding Pattern
The Indian promoter, Bharti Telecom Ltd, holds 45.3% of the total shares of Bharti Airtel
Ltd.[9] The foreign promoters, Pastel Ltd and Indian Continent Investment Ltd, hold
15.6% and 6.3% respectively.[9] Private corporations that hold more than 1% of the total
shares of Bharti Airtel include the Life Insurance Corporation of India (3.4%) and
Europacific Growth Fund (1.5%).
Shareholding Pattern of Bharti Airtel Ltd[10]

Entity Percentage

Bharti Telecom Ltd (Indian Promoter) 45.30%

Foreign Promoters 21.85%

Foreign Institutional Investors 21.99%

Banks, Financial Institutions and Insurance 3.50%

Mutual Funds 2.97%

Private Corporate Bodies 2.63%

General Public 1.04%

Non Resident Indians, Overseas Corporate Bodies and Foreign Others 0.56%

Others 0.16%

[edit] Key Trends and Forces

[edit] Decreasing ARPU and net profit margin offset by increasing subscriber additions
The Indian wireless market has an average revenue per user (ARPU) of $6.8, one of the
lowest in the world.[11] In the 3rd quarter of 2008/09, the company's Mobile Services
segment had an ARPU of $6.7 or Rs. 324, down 2.1% from the previous quarter and
9.5% from the 3rd quarter of 2007/08. In the same quarter, Bharti Airtel had a net profit
margin of 22.4%, down 1.3% from the previous quarter and 9.3% from the 3rd quarter of
2007/08. The company's subscriber base, however, stood at 85.7 million, up 10.4% from
the previous quarter and 55.3% from the 3rd quarter of 2007/08. In other words, although
the company's ARPU and net profit margin have been decreasing, its total revenues and
net profit have been increasing due to its growing subscriber base. Bharti Airtel has also
been partnering with competitors to keep costs low, expand coverage and leverage larger
economies of scale. In 2007/08, the company formed a joint venture with Vodafone Essar
and Idea Cellular to merge their respective passive infrastructure assets and provide
related services to all Indian telecom operators on a non-discriminatory basis.
[edit] Average MoU could fall due to increasing rural demographic of new subscribers
Average minutes of usage (MoU) for the Indian wireless market is 449 minutes, one of
the highest in the world.[11] In the 3rd quarter of 2008/09, the company's average MoU
was 505 minutes, down 4.0% from the previous quarter, but up 6.5% from the 3rd quarter
of 2007/08. In the same quarter, Bharti Airtel increased population coverage from 77% to
79% with the addition of 7 new census towns and 17,361 non-census towns and villages.
Given that just 2% of India's rural population has access to mobile phones and that the
company is adding far more non-census towns and villages than census towns to its
network, Bharti Airtel expects 55.0% of its new subscribers to come from B and C
telecom circles located primarily in rural India.[12][7][11] For low income subscribers, a
mobile phone is often nothing more than a status symbol where outgoing calls are made
infrequently and incoming calls are free.[13] As a result, the addition of more rural
subscribers could lower the company's average MoU.[6]
[edit] Regulatory charges are between 17% and 26% of total revenues
With access charges, license fees, revenue share and spectrum charges totaling between
17% and 26% of total revenue, Indian telecom operators have some of highest levies and
duties imposed on them.[14] In the 3rd quarter of 2008/09, regulatory charges amounted
to Rs. 23,456 or 24.4% of total revenues for the quarter. Nonetheless, the company's
32.5% return on capital employed (ROCE) was still higher than the 7.8% average for the
Indian telecom industry.[7][14] A host of government agencies regulate Bharti Airtel and
its competitors, including the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), the Central
Government of India and The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of India
(TRAI).
[edit] Falling handset prices could increase wireless penetration rate in rural India
In 2007/08, the average selling price (ASP) of a mobile handset in India fell 38% to Rs.
3,150.[15] Buyers are also becoming accustomed to more choices at various price points.
[15] With India's average annual per capita income of Rs. 25,000 and average spending
of 4% of per capita income on communication-related expenses, Macquarie Research
estimates that handset prices need to fall to Rs. 1,000 in order to improve the rate of
penetration in rural India.[15] Keeping in mind the launch of Motorola's $30 handset
targeted at emerging markets and that manufacturers like Nokia, Samsung, Motorola and
Flextronics are all moving production to India, handset prices are expected to fall.[16]
[15] Given that Bharti Airtel expects 55.0% of its new subscribers to come from rurally-
located B and C telecom circles, falling handset prices could increase the penetration rate
of mobile devices in these areas.
[edit] New government policy to facilitate faster rollout of 3G spectrum
In the 2nd quarter of 2008/09, the Indian Department of Telecommunications announced
a new 3G policy which set the base price for access to the Indian 3G spectrum at Rs. 20.2
billion, allowed foreign players to participate in 3G spectrum auctions and imposed a
hoarding cess of 2.5% per quarter if awarded telcos failed to rollout 3G services.[17]
Third generation wireless, or 3G, is a technology that enables high-speed wireless data
transfer for applications like mobile video, secure mobile e-commerce, location-based
services and mobile gaming. Using a 2.0G or 2.5G network, a 3 minute song takes
between 6 and 9 minutes to download.[18] Using a 3G network, however, the time taken
is between 10 to 90 seconds.[18] The launch of 3G services would enable the company to
shift existing high-usage 2G subscribers to the 3G spectrum, thus freeing up space for
new subscribers in the 2G spectrum.[17]
[edit] ADC regime to end in October 2008
The Access Deficit Charge (ADC) regime was introduced by The Telecommunications
Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to facilitate the smooth transition from a
government monopoly in the Indian telecom sector to a liberalized competitive
environment.[19] ADC was the amount payable by private telecom operators to subsidize
the lower-than-cost local rates offered to them by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited
(BSNL).[20] The subsidy was aimed at paying for the deficit between the cost and
revenue of providing basic access from BSNL's fixed lines.[20] Until March 2008, ADC
had two components: 1) all service providers pay 0.75% of their adjusted gross revenues
to BSNL; and 2) international long distance service providers pay Rs. 1 per minute on
international incoming calls to BSNL.[21] In April 2008, the 1st component was
abolished and the 2nd component was halved to Rs. 0.50 per minute.[21] TRAI also
announted that ADC would be completely phased out in October 2008.[20]
[edit] FDIs inflows increasing into the Indian telecom sector
From April 2000 to March 2008, foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows into the Indian
telecom sector amounted to $3.84 billion or 6.8% of the total FDI inflows into the
country.[22] In March 2008, the Central Government of India increased the FDI ceiling
in the telecom sector from 49% to 74%.[23] Furthermore, 100% FDI has been permitted
in the Indian telecom equipment manufacturing sector since September 2005.[24] In
recent years, Malaysia's Maxim Telecom and India's Srei Group have both made
significant investments into the Indian telecom sector. Vodafone Essar, promoted by
England's Vodafone Group and one of Bharti Airtel's main competitors, plans to invest
$6.0 billion over the next 3 years to increase its subscriber base from 40 million to over
100 million.[25]
[edit] Competition
Total GSM Subscribers (in millions) in 2007/08 [26]
Reliance Communications is an integrated communications service provider. It has
established a pan-India, next-generation, integrated (wireless and wireline), convergent
(voice, data and video) digital network that is capable of supporting services spanning the
communications value chain, covering over 20,000 towns and 450,000 villages.[27] It is
India’s second-largest wireless operator by subscriber base and is only one of two
operators along with Bharti to have coverage in all 23 circles in India.[15] Its subscriber
base was 55 million as of September 2008.[28] Reliance Communications added a record
5 million subscribers in Janruary 2009.[29] During 2007-08 Reliance Communications
earned total revenue of INR 190.67 billion with EBITDA of INR 81.99 billion.[30] The
net profit registered a 7.4% increase to INR 25.86 billion.[30]
BSNL/MTNL the incumbent operator, is India’s third-largest wireless operator by
subscriber base and along with government-owned MTNL (incumbent in the key cities of
Delhi and Mumbai), provides wireless services in all 23 circles of India.[15] As on March
31, 2008 BSNL commanded a customer base of 31.55 million Wireline, 4.58 million
CDMA-WLL and 54.21 million GSM Mobile subscribers.[31] During 2007-08 MTNLs
total income was INR 51.28 billion and its net profit decreased by 12.7% to INR 4.06
billion.[32]
Vodafone Essar is the second largest telecom company in India in terms of subscriber
base.Vodafone Essar,[15] previously Hutchison Essar provides 2G services based on 900
MHz and 1800 MHz digital GSM technology, offering voice and data services in 22 of
the country's 23 licence areas.[33] During 2007-08 Vodafone India earned gross revenue
of INR 131.96 billion with EBITDA of INR 43.31 billion.[34] Its Adjusted operating
profit was INR 2.53 billion.[34]
IDEA Cellular is a global system for mobile communications (GSM) Mobile Services
operator. The Company operates in two segments: mobility services and national long
distance.[35] It has licenses to operate in 11 circles. With a customer base of over 17
million, IDEA Cellular covers approximately 45% of India's population and over 50% of
the potential telecom-market.[36] During 2007-08 idea Cellulars revenues stood at INR
67.37 billion up by 54% and EBITDA of INR 22.69 billion. Its net profit at INR 10.42
billion reflected a 108% growth.[37]
Tata Communications is India's largest telecommunication company in international long
distance, enterprise data and internet services.[38] During 2007-08 Tatacommunications
earned gross revenue of INR 82.63 billion and registered a net loss of INR 279.7 million.
[39]
Net Sales Operating Net Profit Total Assets
Competitors Earnings per
(INR Profit (INR (INR (INR
Information[40] Share (INR)
billion) billion) billion) billion)
Bharti Airtel 257.61 106.62 62.44 268.12 32.90
Reliance
147.92 61.73 25.86 451.26 12.53
Communications
Idea Cellular 67.20 24.91 10.44 100.61 3.96
Tata
32.83 6.45 3.04 73.25 10.68
Communications

[edit] Market Share

Bharti Airtel has a dominant market share across the GSM subscribers in the telecom
sector. Bharti Airtel's market share is facing competition since an aggressive entry
strategy by the new telecom operators is being pursued, as carried out by RCOM for its
national GSM rollout.
GSM Market
Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep
Share(%) -
2007 2007 2008 2008 2008 2008 2008 2008 2008 2008 2008
2007/2008[26]
Bharti Airtel 33.0 33.2 33.3 33.5 33.4 33.6 33.7 33.9 34.2 34.4 34.5
Vodafone 24.0 24.0 23.9 23.9 23.8 23.9 24.0 24.1 24.2 24.3 24.3
BSNL/MTNL 21.7 21.5 21.3 21.1 21.2 20.8 20.4 20.0 19.7 19.4 19.1
Idea 14.9 15.0 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 15.5 15.5 15.4 15.1 15.1
Others 6.4 6.4 6.5 6.4 6.4 6.4 6.5 6.5 6.6 6.7 6.9

Bharti Airtel has been able to sustain highest revenues across India in line with its sharp
increase in subscriber market share in 2008. Bharti’s biggest revenue market share gains
came from circles Rajasthan, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.[41]
Revenue Market Share(%) -
Dec 2007 Mar 2008 Jun 2008 Sep 2008
2007/2008[41]
Bharti Airtel 29.8 29.9 31.2 32.7
Vodafone Essar 18.5 19.1 19.7 19.6
Reliance Communications 15.0 13.9 13.5 12.4
BSNL 14.1 14.5 11.7 11.4
Idea 8.1 8.6 9.5 10.0
Others 14.4 14.0 14.4 13.8