Posts Tagged Bharti
Bharti Airtel reaches 100 mln mobile customers mark (India)
Add comment May 15, 2009
Airtel to spend $3.5 bn in FY’10 (India)
India’s largest mobile operator Bharti Airtel said on Thursday that it would invest about USD 3.5 billion in the next fiscal in telecom operations and in rolling out passive infrastructure. Bharti also said that it is on track to spend the same amount in the current fiscal.
“On mobile telecom operations-side the investment would be about USD 2-2.5 billion and the tower business-side between Bharti Infratel and Indus we should be spending between 2.5 and USD 3 billion in FY10. But in Indus (which is a tower tripartite venture of Vodafone Essar, Idea and Bharti) we have 42 per cent share so the exact investment in the tower business will come down to USD one billion making it the same as last year’s capex of USD 3.5 billion,” Bharti Enterprises MD Akhil Gupta said in New Delhi.
Overall capital expenditure will be USD 3.5 billion ballpark, but we will know the exact amount by the end of the next quarter, he said.
He said the company need not raise any funding for mobile operations but in the tower companies — Bharti Infratel and Indus — there will be a need to raise debt to fund the expansion.
While Indus has 93,000 towers, Bharti Infratel, which is a wholly-owned business of Bharti Enterprises, has 30,000 towers. Overall, Bharti’s share comes to 61,000 towers on a proportionate basis as it holds 42 per cent in Indus towers.
“Both will require debt funding,” he said but did not share the amount saying it is competitive information. Whatever required would be raised on need basis. Our net debt is very low — net debt to equity is just 0.19.”
Gupta ruled out any further stake sale for the moment in Infratel, which already has global investors like KKR, Singapore government’s investment arm, Temasek Holdings and other leading global investors hold about 10 per cent stake in Bharti Infratel.
New York-based private equity (PE) firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Co (KKR) has invested USD 250 million (Rs990 crore) in Bharti Infratel Ltd. The arm attracts an enterprise valuation of the company of USD 12.5 billion.
“We raised some money last year from selling Bharti Infratel stakes… there is immediate plan to monetise its assets further,” He said.
He said Bharti did bid for the Iran license and it lost which ultimately went to Etisalat. “Either they were too aggressive or we were too mild,” he said. Bharti Airtel shares were trading at 4.87 per cent higher at Rs 612.
Add comment January 23, 2009
Bharti Airtel Q3 net up 38.34 per cent (India)
Sunil Mittal-led Bharti Airtel on Thursday said its net profit for the third quarter ended December 31 rose by 38.34 per cent to Rs 1,976.41 crore.
The company had a net profit of Rs 1,428.56 crore for the same quarter in the last fiscal, Bharti Airtel said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.
Total income of the company rose to Rs 9,667.37 crore, up 39.90 per cent against Rs 6,950.14 crore for the corresponding period a year ago.
“Bharti Airtel continues to lead the telecom growth story adding customer and revenue market share despite intense competition. Bharti’s strategy of extensive roll out ahead of competition, especially in new villages, has yielded rich dividends,” Bharti Airtel Limited Chairman and Managing Director Sunil Bharti Mittal said.
For the nine month ended December 31, the company has posted a net profit of Rs 5,811.22 crore, up 29.23 per cent against Rs 4,496.53 crore for the same period last year.
Source- http://in.yahoo.com
Add comment January 22, 2009
Airtel, mCheck claim 1 Million user base for mCommerce services (India)
Bharti Airtel and mChek announced the tie-up clocked one million user registrations for its mCommerce services since launch of the services in June 2008.
We strongly believe that mCommerce will be one of the top 3 services offered over mobile in the future and going forward it has the power to facilitate a paradigm shift in the way consumers do commercial transactions and business,” said Sanjay Gupta, Chief Marketing Officer, Mobile Services, Airtel.
“Consumer adoption and repeat usage of the service has been extremely encouraging”, said Sanjay Swamy, CEO of mChek. “With the Reserve Bank of India’s mobile payments guidelines now in place, banks and merchants are fast adopting our open-platform to build a thriving eco-system, and a compelling suite of services for consumers.”
The tie-up also announced the launch of mChekMall which will be available on WAP and Java environments enabling Airtel subscribers to conveniently book flight, movie and other services through their mobile phones. All new Airtel SIM cards will come preinstalled with mobile payment capability.
2 comments January 19, 2009
India adds 8.12 mln GSM users in December
India has added a record 8.12 million GSM mobile users in December, according to data from the Cellular Operators’ Association of India. Total GSM mobile users at the end of December numbered 258 million, up 3.25 percent from 249.7 million in November. Bharti Airtel led the growth by adding 2.7 million new users, taking its total base to about 87 million. Vodafone Essar ranked second with an addition of 2 million users, taking its total base to about 60 million. Idea Cellular added close to 1 million subscribers, to take its total base to 38 million. BPL mobile has added close to 65,000 subscribers in December, a decline of about 9,000 users compared to about 74,000 in November. BPL mobile’s total subscriber base reached 1.9 million. Bharat Sanchar Nigam has added 800,000 users, taking its total base to 41 million.
Add comment January 15, 2009
Airtel launch goes to plan; Tigo notches up 2m users (Sri Lanka)
India’s Bharti Airtel launched 2G and 3G mobile services in Sri Lanka under the Airtel brand yesterday as planned, after investing half of a USD200 million network rollout budget taking it up to 2012. Airtel is the fifth cellular player on the island, competing with Malaysian-owned TM International’s Dialog Telekom, Tigo Sri Lanka, owned by Millicom International Cellular, Hutchison Telecom International’s local unit Hutch Lanka and Mobitel, a subsidiary of incumbent telco Sri Lanka Telecom. The Indian-backed cellco is expected to compete mainly on price. Commenting on the development, Bharti Group Chairman Sunil Mittal said: ‘It will be Airtel’s endeavour to drive affordability in the Sri Lankan market…We are confident that with our experience of 88 million customers, we will make a positive impact on the telecom land space of Sri Lanka.’ The company is offering simple tariff plans which do away with peak and off-peak call rates by offering standard tariffs throughout the day and night. Bharti has previously launched overseas mobile services on three other islands: the Seychelles, Jersey and Guernsey (both in the UK Channel Islands).
In other news, the country’s third largest cellco by user base, Tigo Sri Lanka reached two million subscribers by the end of 2008, reports Lanka Business Online. A statement from the company, formerly known as Celltel Lanka, attributed the growth to ‘network expansion, the strength of the brand and excellent customer service…The year 2008 saw heavy investment by the company to expand the network adding an average of 40 towers a month.’ Rapid growth in the island’s mobile market has slowed in recent years and increased competition saw all operators lowering prices and advertising aggressively to retain customers or win new ones. Tigo, like its rivals, offers free incoming calls and per second billing.
Add comment January 13, 2009
Airtel Launches Sri Lanka Ops; VAS & 3G Services, Free Sim Cards
Bharti Airtel has announced the launch of its Sri Lanka operations: via its subsidiary Bharti Airtel Lanka Pvt Ltd, Airtel is offering 2.5G and 3.5G services (HSPA). The services that have been launched are, predictably, GSM. The company will be investing around $200 million in its Sri Lanka operations.
Tariff Plans
What is interesting about the launch are the changes they claim to have made to standard tariff offerings in Sri Lanka – things that we here in India tend to take for granted:
– Same tariffs for peak and off-peak hours (i.e. doing away with the concept altogether)
– Unconditional free incoming calls
– Uniform call charges to any network
The company is also leveraging its network in India by offering 50% lower rates while roaming in India. Airtels network has been rolled out in Lanka over a period of a year – they have a three-year managed network deal with Huawei, partnered with IBM to manage its comprehensive IT infrastructure and application requirements, and selected iSmart Timex as its customer care partner.
Free Sim Card
Airtel took out ads in Sri Lanka offering Free Sim Cards between January 12 and 25; the connection gets activated on a recharge of Rs. 100. There have, apparently, been long queues outside Airtel’s office at Narahenpita, Colombo. So a price war is beginning in Sri Lanka now.
VAS Services
Airtel’s Sri Lanka site appears to be a work in progress, but we gleaned the following from the site:
– I-Moved is a service which allows users that have signed up for Airtel services to inform others.
– RingBack Tones: while no specific VAS company has been mentioned on the site, a statement on their site “BTSL will provide the backend pages for this and we need “Airtel Ring back Tune Search” as a button to click.” indicates that Bharti Telesoft may be powering CRBT for Airtel Lanka
– SMS services – the usual: News, Jokes, Astrology, Lottery Results, Sports, Health and Stock Markets.
– Voice SMS
– Voice Mail
3G Services
– Video Media Portal: dial 7561 as a Video call for the video portal
– 3G Broadband (mobile phone access)
– Phone Backup Service
– 3G Data Services (USB/Router based)
Why Enter Sri Lanka?
The Teledensity in Sri Lanka appears to be quite high at 61.3%, with 45.7 mobile phones per 100 people and 9,253,067 subscribers. There are already4 other mobile operators in Sri Lanka, and the country has 3G:
– Dialog
– Mobitel (Sri Lanka Telecom)
– Hutch
– Tigo
Some market stats (Q2 2008):
Total Telecom subscribers (Fixed+Mobile): 12,399,024
Total Teledensity (Fixed & Cellular): 61.3%
Fixed Line Phones: 3,145,957
Fixed Line Teledensity: 15.5%, 36.4% in Colombo District
Cellular Mobile Subscribers: 9,253,067
Mobile Phones per 100 people: 45.7
Internet & Email Subscribers: 215,000
Add comment January 12, 2009
Bharti Airtel launches in Sri Lanka on a 3.5G network, will invest $ 200 mn
Bharti Airtel Lanka (Pvt.) Ltd today announced the launch of its mobile services in Sri Lanka under the Airtel brand. The services have been launched on a state-of-the-art 3.5G network.
Airtel has launched a suite of innovative services and redefined affordability by offering attractive call rates. What truly sets these tariff plans apart is the simplicity and ease of understanding for the customer, including features such as unconditional free incoming calls.
Airtel’s simple tariffs liberate the customer from the concept of peak and off-peak call rates by offering standard tariffs throughout the day and allowing them to speak freely.
For the first time, Sri Lankan mobile customers will not have to bother with within network and outside network concept as Airtel will offer uniform call charges to any network.
The company will also offer unique and customer relevant Value Added Services.
On the occasion Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman and Managing Director, Bharti Airtel said, “We are extremely honoured to present Airtel to Sri Lanka. At Bharti, we have always believed in undertaking business projects that are transformational and have a positive impact on the society at large. Bharti Airtel has also set global benchmarks in telecom services, be it our unique business model based on outsourcing or innovative products and services.”
“We are delighted at being given this opportunity to serve the people of Sri Lanka and contribute to the growth story of the country. It will be Airtel’s sincere endeavour to drive affordability in the Sri Lankan market and empower more and more people to experience the benefits of mobile internet and telephony. We are confident that with our experience of serving around 88 million customers, we will make a positive impact on the telecom landscape of Sri Lanka,” Mittal added.
Bharti Airtel plans to invest around USD 200 million in its Sri Lanka operations. In just over an year, the company has commissioned a sizeable state-of-the-art network.
This is the fastest network roll-out of its scale by any mobile operator in Sri Lanka. This will enable Bharti Airtel to fulfill its promise of providing world-class mobile services at affordable rates to customers in Sri Lanka.
In line with the innovative business model based on outsourcing that it pioneered, Bharti Airtel has created an ecosystem of partners for its Sri Lanka operations.
It has entered into a three-year managed network deal with Huawei, partnered with IBM to manage its comprehensive IT infrastructure and application requirements, and selected iSmart Timex as its customer care partner.
Add comment January 12, 2009
TRAI analysis shows Airtel and Vodafone have most crammed networks (India)
The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) disclosed that GSM operators Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Essar have the busiest telecom networks in the country, after conducting an analysis.
This aspect was being recorded by TRAI on a monthly basis across the country. The regulator stated the congestion levels were way above the permissible limit during the quarter ended September 08 in as many as 129 places. Nevertheless, the overall congestion levels which was as high as 526 in 2006 came down to 134 places in the quarter ended June 2008.
The congestion besides causing call drops and deterioration of voice quality, also forces consumers to make repeated attempts to get through to another subscriber.
The regulator has a set a benchmark of less than 0.5% for the congestion levels indicating that out of 200 calls between two operators only one call should face congestion problem. This level is tracked by TRAI by evaluating the congestion levels at the Points of Interconnection (PoI), which are the places where mobile traffic is exchanged between the networks of different operators.
Bharti Airtel has the largest number of PoI’s having a congestion of 41 followed by Vodafone with 22. Reliance Communications and Idea has 19 each. The circles most affected due to network congestion are Bihar, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Mumbai, Uttar Pradesh (West) and Himachal Pradesh.
Add comment January 8, 2009
Airtel to launch operations in Sri Lanka on 12 January
Indian telecommunication services provider Bharti Airtel’s Sri Lanka unit will launch its operations on 12 January, writes the Lanka Business Online. The Board of Investment (BOI) has granted concessions to the local operating unit RTEC Mobile Lanka and the project envisages an investment of USD 100 million, which is sponsored by Global Electroteks. The firm will offer GSM and WCDMA voice and broadband internet services.
Add comment January 6, 2009
India reports a mobile subscriber base of 336.08Mn, Bharti Airtel tops the chart
India’s telecom sector has reportedly added 10.35 million mobile subscribers in the month of November, in comparison to 10.42 million in October. The subscriber base of mobile users in India reaches the mark of 336.08 million at the end of November, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India said in a statement.
Bharti Airtel, country’s leading mobile operator added 2.72 million users in November, totalling its subscriber base to 82.92 million. Followed by Reliance Communications which added 1.76 million users and took its subscriber base to 59.56 million subscribers. Vodafone Essar added 20.60 million users, taking its total number of subscribers to 58.76 million. BSNL’s reported a subscriber base of 44.57 million after adding 700,937 subscribers in November.
Add comment December 30, 2008
