Bharti Airtel is an Indian telecommunications company operating in 20 countries, and is the largest mobile operator by subscribers globally. The company has a comprehensive historical background, including notable achievements like being the first Indian telecom to achieve Cisco Gold certification and launching various innovative services. Despite facing challenges such as high competition, significant debt, and struggles in its African operations, Airtel maintains strong brand equity and aims to capture untapped markets and improve its data service offerings.

1. BHARTI AIRTEL
-Customer satisfaction & It’s global success
2014
BHUPATHI RAJU NIRUPAM VARMA
2012016227
4/15/2014

2. 2
INDEX
Page No. Topics
3 Company Profile
4 Company History
5 – 8 SWOT Analysis
9 – 13 Product Portfolio
14 – 15 Global Presence
16 – 17 Acquisitions & mergers
18 Joint ventures, Rebranding
19 Signature tones & sponsorships
20 Green Initiatives
21 – 23 Timeline
24 – 25 Subscriber Base
26 Performance
27 - 31 Research Result

3. 3
Bharti Airtel Limited, commonly known as Airtel, is an Indian multinational
telecommunications Services Company headquartered in New Delhi, India. It operates in
20 countries across South Asia, Africa, and the Channel Islands. Airtel has a GSM
network in all countries in which it operates, providing 2G, 3G and 4G services
depending upon the country of operation. Airtel is the world’s largest mobile
telecommunications company by subscribers, with over 275 million subscribers across 20
countries as of July 2013. It is the largest cellular service provider in India, with 192.22
million subscribers as of August 2013. Airtel is the Second largest in-country mobile
operator by subscriber base, behind China Mobile.
Airtel is the largest provider of mobile telephony and second largest provider of fixed
telephony in India, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television
services. It offers its telecom services under the "airtel" brand, and is headed by Sunil
Bharti Mittal. Bharti Airtel is the first Indian telecom service provider to achieve Cisco
Gold Certification. It also acts as a carrier for national and international long distance
communication services. The company has a submarine cable landing station at Chennai,
which connects the submarine cable connecting Chennai and Singapore.
Airtel is credited with pioneering the business strategy of outsourcing all of its business
operations except marketing, sales and finance and building the 'minutes factory' model
of low cost and high volumes. The strategy has since been copied by several operators.
Its network—base stations, microwave links, etc.—is maintained by Ericsson and Nokia
Siemens Network whereas IT support is provided by IBM and transmission towers are
maintained by another company (Bharti Infratel Ltd. in India). Ericsson agreed for the
first time to be paid by the minute for installation and maintenance of their equipment
rather than being paid up front, which allowed Airtel to provide low call rates of
1/minute (US$0.02/minute). During the last financial year (2009–10), Bharti negotiated
for its strategic partner Alcatel-Lucent to manage the network infrastructure for the tele-
media business. On 31 May 2012, Bharti Airtel awarded the three-year contract to
Alcatel-Lucent for setting up an Internet Protocol access network (mobile backhaul)
across the country. This would help consumers access internet at faster speed and high
quality internet browsing on mobile handsets.

4. 4
History:-
Sunil Bharti Mittal founded the Bharti Group. In 1983, Mittal was in an agreement with
Germany's Siemens to manufacture push-button telephone models for the Indian market.
In 1986, Mittal incorporated Bharti Telecom Limited (BTL), and his company became
the first in India to offer push-button telephones, establishing the basis of Bharti
Enterprises. By the early 1990s, Sunil Mittal had also launched the country's first fax
machines and its first cordless telephones. In 1992, Mittal won a bid to build a cellular
phone network in Delhi. In 1995, Mittal incorporated the cellular operations as Bharti
Tele-Ventures and launched service in Delhi. In 1996, cellular service was extended to
Himachal Pradesh. In 1999, Bharti Enterprises acquired control of JT Holdings, and
extended cellular operations to Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. In 2000, Bharti acquired
control of Skycell Communications, in Chennai. In 2001, the company acquired control
of Spice Cell in Calcutta. Bharti Enterprises went public in 2002, and the company was
listed on Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange of India. In 2003, the
cellular phone operations were rebranded under the single Airtel brand. In 2004, Bharti
acquired control of Hexacom and entered Rajasthan. In 2005, Bharti extended its
network to Andaman and Nicobar. This expansion allowed it to offer voice services all
across India. In 2009, Airtel launched its first international mobile network in Sri Lanka.
In 2010, Airtel acquired the African operations of the Kuwait based Zain Telecom. In
March 2012, Airtel launched a mobile operation in Rwanda.
Airtel Centre, Gurgaon
Airtel launched "Hello Tunes", a Caller ring back tone service (CRBT), in July 2004
becoming to the first operator in India to do so. The Airtel theme song, composed by
A.R. Rahman, was the most popular tune on that year.
On 26 February 2013, Airtel announced that it had deployed Erricson's Mobile
Broadband Charging (MBC) solution and completely modernised its prepaid services for
its subscribers in India. As a part of the deal, Ericsson's multi service MBC suite allows
prepaid customers to have personalised profile based data charging plans. Prepaid
customers will be able to customise their data plans across mobility, fixed line and
broadband by cross bundling across multiple domains (2G, 3G, 4G/LTE & Wi-Fi). It will
also offer flexible multi service charging in geographical redundant mode, making Airtel
the first operator to implement geographical redundancy at such a large scale. In May
2013, Bharti Infotel paid Rs 50,000 as compensation to a customer "for unfair trade

5. 5
practices". The customer alleged that the company continued to aggressively demand
payment despite customer requests for disconnection of service.
SWOT Analysis:
*Strengths:
Biggest mobile service provider in world’s second largest telecom market – Mobile
phone subscriptions now follow the normal population trends around the world.
With about 870 million wireless subscriptions, India ranks second after China in the
wireless market. Airtel has a 22.2% share of that market.
Well-established nationwide infrastructure – Airtel has been in the market for 18+
years and thus has towers and backhaul all over the country. This is a major
advantage. Deployment of new technologies or increasing capacity at times requires
software and minimal hardware upgrade. Having infrastructure already on the
ground makes that process much faster and smoother. Secondly, it is easier to
capture new customers if a telco already has a network in place.
High brand equity – Airtel is among India’s most visible brands omnipresent in most
parts of the nation through television, print and various other forms of advertising.
Celebrity endorsements and innovative advertising that understand the pulse of
market are some of the assets of the Airtel brand.
Superior overall network quality and reliability – Bharti Airtel (along with
Vodafone) runs one of the better mobile networks’ in India. They have nationwide
penetration and although there is no dearth of consumer complaints regarding
dropped calls and slow data against Airtel, it still offers a higher quality telecom
service experience as compared to most other telcos

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*Weaknesses:
High competition in the telecom market – Airtel, like all other service providers in
India, has been adversely affected by the extreme price competition. Although the
average voice call rates have gone up recently, they were as low as Rs. 0.6/min. (1
cent/min.) a few years ago. The story is similar with data and 3G tariffs. As a
result, the company has been reporting declining profits for many years. ARPU
had been decreasing too although it is showing signs of bottoming out now.
Debt and finances – According to their latest quarterly report, Airtel is burdened by
$9.7 billion in net debt, which is a lot of money when converted to rupees. How
can Airtel repay this debt is the question? Possibilities include stake and equity sale
or spike in revenue. Depreciating rupee is also an issue since it results in foreign
exchange losses and increases the financing cost.
Africa acquisitions and operations – Airtel acquired Zain’s Africa business for $9
billion in 2010. Since then, it has struggled to turn around those operations
reporting repeated losses from the continent. While the Africa operation has
widened the companies’ geography, it continues to be a drag on its balance sheet.
Late adoption of 3G and advanced wireless technologies – Due to various
regulatory uncertainties and delayed spectrum auctions, India and Airtel were late
to the 3G party. 3G services were launched by Airtel only in early 2011. The data
tariffs were high, speeds were unsatisfactory and customer acceptance of 3G was
slow. The company lacks nationwide 3G license with spectrum in 13 out of 22
telecom service areas. Airtel’s LTE network for mobile broadband is still confined
to only 4 cities in India.
*Opportunities:
Untapped voice market – Despite many believing that the voice market in India is
close to saturation, hundreds of millions remain without a phone. Recently, VLR
(Visitor Location Register) numbers released by the regulator TRAI showed that
around 730 million out of the total 870 million are active connections. Given many
people in India use multiple SIMs, it is safe to say that mobile phone penetration in
the country is less than 50%. The opportunity for Airtel is huge, especially in the
rural segment.

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3G and data revenue – Airtel’s 3G subscribers constitute less than 5% of its total
subscriber base. Apart from getting new 3G customers to join Airtel, there is
immense room for growth within its existing customers. The operator should be
more aggressive in marketing the benefits of high speed data access on phone.
Simultaneously, it must ensure faster and consistent data speeds on its network.
LTE – The whole wireless world is moving towards LTE. LTE for mobile
broadband can be a good solution for India where fixed broadband penetration is
otherwise low. Airtel has taken the lead with this version of LTE in 4 cities, but
deployment needs to catch up pace. Despite a weak LTE ecosystem in India, Airtel
should portray itself as the embracer of that technology. It must pursue the device
manufacturers to produce LTE capable phones for India and then take the lead in
the deployment of LTE for cellular networks too.
Mergers and Acquisitions – Unfortunately, the M&A rules in India are yet to
formally declared although recent media reports have suggested that companies
may be allowed to merge as long as their market share in every circle is less than
50%. Airtel with a market share of 22.2% should be good to acquire smaller telcos
to reduce competition and add subscribers and spectrum. Such acquisitions will
incur huge spectrum costs, but it could be well worth it in the long term.
*Threats:
Unfriendly regulatory environment – The telecom industry in India has been
plagued by a hostile and unstable regulatory scenario. This has adversely affected
the industry sentiment and the wireless service providers. While some clarity has
begun to emerge, many guidelines are far from certain. Airtel has not remained
untouched from this chaos. And this threat would continue to linger for the next
few years.
Spectrum Auctions and Reframing – Government of India and TRAI kept a high
reserve price for 3G, BWA and the recent 1800 MHz auction. Airtel had spent Rs.
123 billion ($2.7 billion per rupee to dollar conversion back then) for 3G airwaves.
Since the returns are slow due to low tariffs, buying the spectrum at high price is
detrimental for the telcos. Reframing 900 MHz is another terrible idea which
would negatively impact Airtel’s finances, given that it will have to repurchase
those airwaves to continue 2G operations.

8. 8
Mobile Number Portability – MNP gives the customer independence to change the
service provider while retaining the number. With similar tariffs across various
telcos and satisfaction with the current service provider being low, consumers are
willing to jump ship. The larger incumbent operators are losing millions of
customers to the newer players who attract these customers with their freebies and
innovative offers.
Some of the points mentioned above also apply to big incumbent telcos in India
like Vodafone and Idea. But let us not forget that Airtel has been a torchbearer of
the Indian wireless industry. If it intends to remain in that position, a SWOT
analysis like this one will help. Overall, I am bullish on the company’s future and
believe that despite the current difficulties, Bharti Airtel will continue to be a
major player in India’s telecommunication sector.
1 .Threat from Competition
HIGH
Wireless Market – Top 4 garnering 75% market share

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Product Portfolio:
3G: On 18 May 2010, the 3G spectrum auction was completed and Airtel paid the
Indian government 122.95 billion (US$2.1 billion) for spectrum in 13 circles, the most
amount spent by an operator in that auction. Airtel won 3G licenses in 13 telecom circles
of India: Delhi, Mumbai, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh (West),
Rajasthan, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Assam, North East, and Jammu &
Kashmir. Airtel also operates 3G services in Maharashtra & Goa and Kolkata circles
through an agreement with Vodafone and in Gujarat through an agreement with Idea.
This gives Airtel a 3G presence in 15 out of 22 circles in India. Airtel is fined by DoT
3.50 billion for not stopping offering 3G Services through Roaming Pacts outside its
Licensed Zones in Seven Circles.
On 20 September 2010, Bharti Airtel said that it had given contracts to Ericsson India,
Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) and Huawei Technologies to set up infrastructure for
providing 3G services in the country. These vendors would plan, design, deploy and
maintain 3G–HSPA (third generation, high speed packet access) networks in 13 telecom
circles where the company had won 3G licenses. While Airtel awarded network contracts
for seven 3G circles to Ericsson India, NSN would manage networks in three circles.
Chinese telecom equipment vendor Huawei Technologies was introduced as the third
partner for three circles.
On 24 January 2011, Airtel launched 3G services in Bangalore, Karnataka – its largest
circle by revenue. With this launch, Airtel became the third private operator (fifth
overall) to launch its 3G services in the country following Tata Docomo and Reliance
Communications. On 27 January 2011, Airtel launched 3G in Chennai and Coimbatore in
Tamil Nadu. On 27 July 2011, 3G services were launched in Kerala's 3 largest cities –
Kochi, Kozhikode and Thiruvananthapuram.
Airtel 3G services are available in 200 cities through its network and in 500 cities
through intra-circle roaming arrangements with other operators. Airtel had about 5.4
million 3G customers of which 4 million are 3G data customers as of September 2012.

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4G:On 19 May 2010, the broadband wireless access (BWA) or 4G spectrum auction in
India ended. Airtel paid 33.1436 billion (US$550 million) for spectrum in 4 circles:
Maharashtra and Goa, Karnataka, Punjab and Kolkata. The company was allocated
20 MHz of BWA spectrum in 2.3 GHz frequency band. Airtel's TD-LTE network is built
and operated by ZTE in Kolkata and Punjab, Huawei in Karnataka, and Networks in
Maharashtra and Goa. On 10 April 2012, Airtel launched 4G services through dongles
and modems using TD-LTE technology in Kolkata, becoming the first company in India
to offer 4G services. The Kolkata launch was followed by launches in Bangalore (7 May
2012), Pune (18 October 2012), and Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula (25 March
2013). Airtel obtained 4G licenses and spectrum in the telecom circles of Delhi, Haryana,
Kerala and Mumbai after acquiring Wireless Business Services Private Limited, a joint
venture founded by Qualcomm, which had won BWA spectrum in those circles in the 4G
spectrum auction.
Airtel launched 4G services on mobile from February 2014. The first city to get the
service was Bangalore. Airtel provides voice services for its TD-LTE subscribers through
its existing GSM network, which made it the first operator in India to combine voice with
TD-LTE services through GSM network. Airtel selected Nokia Siemens Networks to
deploy its Circuit Switched FallBack (CSFB) voice solution in Airtel's TD-LTE network
in Pune. With CSFB, the network can transfer customers to GSM platform to make and
receive voice calls while retaining the TD-LTE network for data services.
Airtel had 100,000 4G subscribers as of January 2014.
Wi-Fi: Airtel has plans to launch Wi-Fi services in India. It intends to start offering
Wi-Fi services in Delhi NCR, Mumbai and Bangalore in initial phase. All plans will be
on secure wireless broadband internet with unlimited usage and will be session or time
based. Users can use the service by finding a hotspot, selecting 'airtel Wi-Fi Zone',
activating the voucher and then login to start browsing.
Airtel intends to partner with establishments to set up hotspots which will be termed Wi-
Fi Hangout for an establishment owner and Wi-Fi Partner for the café and restaurant
owners. Airtel Wi-Fi Partners can offer services at zero investments and can earn
commission on every Wi-Fi session sold.

11. 11
Airtel Money: Airtel has started a new mCommerce platform called Airtel Money in
collaboration with Infosys and SmartTrust (now Giesecke & Devrient). The platform was
launched on 5 April 2012, at Infosys' headquarters in Bangalore. Using Airtel Money,
users can transfer money, pay bills and perform other financial transactions directly on
the mobile phone. It has a all India presence. Certain charges are levied per Airtel Money
transaction.
SmartDrive: SmartDrive is navigation app exclusive to Airtel customers. The app
features voice-based turn by turn navigation, real time information update on traffic,
approximate time of the travel on the basis of the traffic situation on the various routes
and also lets users see their location on the map and plan the journey accordingly. It also
suggests the subscriber an alternate route in case of traffic congestion on the normal
route. According to Airtel, SmartDrive calculates the traffic on the basis of the number of
GPS devices used on a particular road, their average speed, as well as historical trends of
traffic on that route. SmartDrive also allows users to search for points of interest like
restaurants, theatres and shopping malls. The app also allows users to keep a record of all
trips they make when using voice navigation for later reference through the 'Trip
Recorder' feature, Wikipedia information of places for which information is available and
the ability to add frequently visited locations to favourites, in addition to weather
information about the place.
Airtel will offer navigation at 10 per day or 99 per month. Live traffic will be cost 3
per day or 49 per month. Search and map viewer are available for free. The costs do not
include data charges. Airtel states in SmartDrive's FAQ that data is only used when the
user performs searches or calculates routes.
The app is developed by Wisepilot, a mobile navigation solutions provider and uses
Navteq Maps for location and traffic info. It was launched on 12 September 2012. At the
time of launch, it was available only in Bangalore, Mumbai and NCR. Services are
currently available in Chennai. Service will be expanded to Pune and Hyderabad by
December 2012.
Network Experience Centre: Airtel has a Network Experience Centre (NEC) which
observes end to end customer experience, in near real time, along with the standard network
elements on Airtel's operations. The NEC is located in Manesar, Haryana and went live on
31 October 2012. It is the first such facility in India and will be able to monitor Airtel's

12. 12
network performance across mobile, fixed line, broadband, DTH, M-Commerce, enterprise
services, International Cable Systems and internet peering points from a single location. It
will monitor all Airtel and partner NOCs. In case of an emergency, the NEC will enable the
operator to priorities actions to restore normalcy and reduce resolution time.
The NEC houses a video wall with 3600 square feet of solid state LED screen to monitor
Airtel's telecom network. This is the world's biggest video wall for a telecom operator.
Each cube in this wall is 1.6mx1.2 m and there are 175 cubes arranged in a 25x7 matrix.
The clear span of the roof is 49 m x 18 m and the beams, which are fireproof and about 8
feet deep, have been specially designed to hold the structure without columns. The NEC
was designed specifically to be used as a command center in case of national emergencies
and natural catastrophes. The facility is earthquake proof and also provides for a single
control of command and a fully redundant technology layout.
Airtel Digital TV:The Digital TV business provides Direct-to-Home (DTH) TV
services across India under the brand name Airtel digital TV. It started services on 9
October 2008 and had about 7.9 million customers at the end of December 2012.
Telemedia: Under the Telemedia segment, Airtel provides broadband internet access
through DSL, internet leased lines as well as MPLS (multiprotocol label switching)
solutions, as well as IPTV and fixed line telephone services. Until 18 September 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 airtel. As of September 2012, Airtel provides Telemedia services to 3.3 million
customers in 87 cities. As on 30 November 2012, Airtel had 1.39 million broadband
subscribers.
Airtel Broadband provides broadband and IPTV services. Airtel provides both capped as
well as unlimited download plans. However, Airtel's unlimited plans are subject to free
usage policy (FUP), which reduces speed after the customer crosses a certain data usage
limit. In some plans, Airtel provides only 256kbit/s beyond FUP, which is lower than the
TRAI specified limit of half the subscriber's original speed. The maximum speed
available for home users is 16Mbit/s.

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Mobile Data Services:The different services under mobile data are BlackBerry
services, a web-enabled mobile email solution working on 'Push Technology', USB
modem that helps in getting instant access to Internet and corporate applications, Airtel
Data Card that gives the liberty to access the internet anytime, Easy Mail is a platform
that provides access to personal/corporate e-mails independent of handset operating
system and application services that shorten the queues at the billing section, off-load the
pressure on the billing staff and bring convenience to the user.
Enterprise Business Solution: There are two kind of solutions offered by Airtel.
One is GPRS Based Solutions like mobile applications tools for enterprise, TrackMate,
automatic meter reading solutions etc. and the other is SMS Based Solutions like
interactive sms, bulk sms, inbound call center solutions.
Android Based Tablet: Beetel Teletech Ltd., a unit of Bharti Enterprises Ltd., on
18 August launched a 9,999 ($220) 7-inch tablet in India based on Google Inc.'s
Android operating system. The offering is intended to capitalize on the expected demand
for cheap computing devices in the world's fastest-growing and second-largest mobile
phone market
Airtel Ownership Controversy: The controversy over the ownership of one of
Nigeria’s mobile telephone companies, Airtel Nigeria, continued on Thursday as the
Federal High Court in Lagos dismissed an application by Bharti Airtel, an Indian
telecommunications group, and others, seeking to set aside an international commercial
arbitration tribunal ruling that favoured Econet Wireless.
Econet Wireless, which controls five per cent equity shareholding in Econet Wireless
Nigeria Limited had last January 30, challenged in court the ownership structure of Bharti
Airtel Nigeria. Econet claimed its stake was unfairly cancelled when Zain Nigeria took
control in 2005, without giving it the right of first refusal over the stake.
In its application, Econet Wireless sought claims of about $3.1 billion in damages and the
reversal of the company’s name from Bharti Airtel Nigeria on grounds that the change
was irregular, null, void and of no effect.

14. 14
Airtel Global Presence:
Country Site Remarks
Bangladesh
Airtel
Bangladesh
Airtel Bangladesh had about 8 million customers as on Sep
2013.
Burkina
Faso
Airtel
Burkina Faso
Airtel Burkina Faso is the dominant player with 1,433,000
customers representing 50% market share.
Chad Airtel Chad Airtel Chad is the No. 1 operator with 69% market share.
Democratic
Republic of
the Congo
Airtel DRC
Airtel is the market leader with almost 5 million customers
at the end of 2010.
Gabon Airtel Gabon
Airtel Gabon has 829,000 customers and its market share
stood at 61%.
Ghana Airtel Ghana
Airtel Ghana had about 1.76 million customers at the end of
2010.
India Airtel
Airtel is the market leader with almost 193.4 million
customers as on 30 Sep 2013.
Kenya Airtel Kenya
Airtel Kenya is the second largest operator and has 4
million customers.
Madagascar
Airtel
Madagascar
Airtel holds second place in the mobile telecom market in
Madagascar, has a 39% market share and over 1.4 million
customers.
Malawi Airtel Malawi
Airtel Malawi is the market leader with a market share of
72%.

15. 15
Niger Airtel Niger Airtel Niger is the market leader with a 68% market share.
Republic of
the Congo
Airtel Congo
B
Airtel Congo is the market leader with a 55% market share.
Rwanda
Airtel
Rwanda
Airtel launched services in Rwanda on 30 March 2012.
Seychelles
Airtel
Seychelles
Airtel is the leading comprehensive telecommunications
services providers with over 55% market share of mobile
market in Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Airtel Sierra
Leone
Sri Lanka
Airtel Sri
Lanka
Airtel Sri Lanka commenced operations on 12 January
2009. It had about 1.8 million mobile customers at the end
of 2010.
Tanzania
Airtel
Tanzania
Airtel Tanzania is the market leader with a 38% market
share.
Uganda Airtel Uganda
Airtel Uganda stands as the No. 2 operator with a market
share of 38%.
Zambia Airtel Zambia Airtel Zambia is the market leader with 69% market share.
Channel
Islands :
Jersey
Guernsey:
Airtel DRC
Airtel operates in the Channel Islands under the brand name
Airtel–Vodafone through an agreement with Vodafone.

16. 16
Acquisitions and mergers:
MTN Group merger negotiations:
In May 2008, it emerged that Airtel was exploring the possibility of buying the MTN
Group, a South Africa-based telecommunications company with operations 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 emphasised the
tentative nature of the talks. The Economist magazine noted, "If anything, Bharti would
be marrying up", as MTN had more subscribers, higher revenues and broader geographic
coverage. However, the talks fell apart as MTN Group tried to reverse the negotiations by
making Bharti almost a subsidiary of the new company.
In May 2009, Airtel confirmed that it was again in talks with MTN and both companies
agreed to discuss the potential transaction exclusively by 31 July 2009. Airtel said in a
statement "Bharti Airtel Ltd is pleased to announce that it has renewed its effort for a
significant partnership with MTN Group". The exclusivity period was extended twice up
to 30 September 2009. Talks eventually ended without agreement and on 30 September
2009, Bharti released a statement saying that it had decided to disengage from
discussions with the MTN Group when the exclusivity period ended. Informa analyst
Matthew Reed noted that a reported factor in the failure was South Africa's worry that
control of MTN, which is perceived as a national champion, could pass into foreign
hands. The South African government is MTN's biggest shareholder. Bharti said in a
statement regarding the failure, "We hope the South African government will review its
position in the future and allow both companies an opportunity to re-engage".
A solution was proposed where the new company would be listed on 2 stock exchanges,
one in South Africa and one in India. However, dual-listing of companies is not permitted
by Indian law.
Zain:
In March 2010, Bharti struck a deal to buy Zain's mobile operations in 15 African
countries, in India's second biggest overseas acquisition after Tata Steel's $13 billion buy
of Corus in 2007. Bharti Airtel completed its $10.7 billion acquisition of African
operations from Kuwaiti firm, making the Airtel the world's fifth largest wireless carrier

17. 17
by subscriber base. Airtel has reported that its revenues for the fourth quarter of 2010
grew by 53% to US$3.2 billion compared to the previous year, newly acquired Zain
Africa division contributed US$911 million to the total. However, net profits dropped by
41% from US$470 million in 2009 to US$291 million 2010 due to a US$188 million
increase in radio spectrum charges in India and an increase of US$106 million in debt
interest.
Telecom Seychelles:
On 11 August 2010, Bharti Airtel announced that it would acquire 100% stake in
Telecom Seychelles for US$62 million taking its global presence to 19 countries.
Telecom Seychelles began operations in 1998 and operates 3G, Fixed Line, ship to shore
services satellite telephony, among value added services like VSAT and Gateways for
International Traffic across the Seychelles under the Airtel brand. The company has over
57% share of the mobile market of Seychelles. Airtel announced plans to invest US$10
million in its fixed and mobile telecoms network in the Seychelles over three years,
whilst also participating in the Seychelles East Africa submarine cable (SEAS) project.
The US$34 million SEAS project is aimed at improving the Seychelles' global
connectivity by building a 2,000 km undersea high speed link to Dar es Salaam in
Tanzania.
Wireless Business Services Private Limited:
On 24 May 2012, Airtel announced an agreement to acquire a 49% stake in Wireless
Business Services Private Limited (WBSPL) at an investment of 907 crore (US$165
million). Airtel bought 26% in WBSPL from Global Holding Corporation and Tulip
Telecom and the balance 23% by subscribing to fresh equity of Qualcomm. Global
Holding Corporation and Tulip Telecom had bought 13% each in the BWA entities for
US$57.72 million (about 2.68 billion) in 2010. WBSPL was a joint venture founded by
Qualcomm, and held BWA spectrum in the telecom circles of Delhi, Haryana, Kerala and
Mumbai. Qualcomm had spent US$1 billion to acquire BWA spectrum in those 4 circles.
The deal gave Airtel a 4G presence in 8 circles. At the time of purchasing the BWA
spectrum, Global Holding Corp and Tulip Telecom had a 13% stake each in the
company, while Qualcomm Asia Pacific had the remaining 74% stake. Qualcomm Asia
Pacific gradually reduced its stake to 6.55%, while Airtel acquired a 93.45% stake. On 4
July 2013, Airtel announced that it had acquired an additional 2% equity share capital
(making its stake 51%) in all the four BWA entities of Qualcomm, thereby making them

18. 18
its subsidiaries. On 18 October 2013, Airtel announced that it had acquired 100 percent
equity shares of WBSPL for an undisclosed sum, making it a wholly owned subsidiary.
Joint ventures:
Airtel-Ericsson
As per a five-year managed services agreement signed recently Ericsson will manage and
optimize Airtel's mobile networks in Africa. Ericsson will modernise and upgrade Airtel's
mobile networks in Africa with the latest technology including its multi standard RBS
6000 base station. As part of the modernisation, Ericsson will also provide technology
consulting, network planning & design and network deployment. Ericsson has been the
managed services and network technology partner in the Asian operations.
Rebranding :
On 18 November 2010, Airtel rebranded itself in India in the first phase of a global
rebranding strategy. The company unveiled a new logo with 'airtel' written in lower case.
Designed by London-based brand agency, The Brand Union, the new logo is the letter 'a'
in lowercase, with 'airtel' written in lowercase under the logo. On 23 November 2010,
Airtel's Africa operations were rebranded to 'airtel'. Sri Lanka followed on 28 November
2010 and on 20 December 2010, Warid Telecom rebranded to 'airtel' in Bangladesh

19. 19
Sponsorship:
On 9 May 2009 Airtel signed a major deal with Manchester United. As a result of the
deal, Airtel gets the rights to broadcast the matches played by the team to its customers.
Bharti Airtel signed a five-year deal with ESPN Star Sports to become the title sponsor of
the Champions League Twenty20 cricket tournament. But now the deal is terminated and
karbon is sponsoring Champions League Twenty20 cricket.
Airtel, also signed a deal to be title sponsor the inaugural Formula One Indian Grand Prix
during the 2011 season.
Airtel signed a deal to be title sponsor the I-League for 2013–14 I-Leagues.
Signature tune:
The signature tune of Airtel is composed by Indian musician A. R. Rahman. The tune
became hugely popular and is the world's most downloaded mobile music with over 150
million downloads. A new version of the song was released on 18 November 2010, as
part of the rebranding of the company. This version too was composed by Rahman
himself.
Green initiative:
GreenTowers P7 program
Bharti Infratel is the only telecom tower company, which has installed almost 3 MWT of
solar capacity on their network, generating more than 5 million units of electricity every
year. The Green Towers P7 program is scoped for 22,000 tower sites (primarily rural
areas having low or no Grid Power availability) out of which 5,500 sites have already
been implemented in the first year as a part of this 3-year program. Once completed, the
initiative will reduce diesel consumption by 66 million liters per year with a significant

20. 20
carbon dioxide reduction of around 150,000 MT per year. Bharti Infratel bagged the 2011
'Green Mobile Award ' at the GSMA Mobile World Congress at Barcelona and was also
awarded the 2010 innovative infrastructure company of the year award at the CNBC
Infrastructure Awards for this groundbreaking initiative. Bharti remains the first company
in the world to introduce the practice of sharing of passive infrastructure by collaborating
with their competition to share mobile towers and to reduce the collective carbon
footprint of the industry. This has become a subject of case studies in institutions
including the Harvard Business School.
Energy Conservation:
The company has installed solar hot water generator at its main campus in Gurgaon for
fulfilling the hot water requirement in the cafeteria. Majority of its facilities across NCR
region are now equipped with LES (Lighting Energy Savers) which have reduced energy
consumption in the lighting system to the tune of 10–25%. Variable Frequency Drives
installed in AHU (Air Handling Unit) at its campus have helped in enhancing the
efficiency of cooling system by 10%. These measures have resulted in a total saving of
850,000 units of electricity per year.
Airtel has embarked upon technology related initiatives like virtualization of servers that
has helped it release over 500 CPUs. Also the drive of sending e-bills to the post-paid
customers is helping save 12,840 trees annually. Within its campus the 'Secure Print
Solution' – an automated queue management based secured printing solution has led to an
annualized saving of about 8 metric tons of paper.
Alternative energy sources such as solar energy used at 1050 sites saving 6.9 mn
liters of diesel and approximately 280 million.
Energy efficiency measures such as Integrated Power Management Systems and
variable speed DC generators have resulted in reduction in the rate of diesel
consumption by 1.2 million liters, leading to savings of 47 million across 900
sites.
Demand side management like Free cooling Units (FCU) instead of air
conditioners has been implemented across 3400+ sites, saving consumption of 4.1
million liters of diesel.
Timeline:
The chronology of events since Bharti Tele-Ventures was incorporated in 1995:

21. 21
1995
Bharti Cellular launched cellular services as "AirTel" in Delhi.
2004
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).
2010
On 18 May 2010, Airtel won 3G spectrum in 13 circles: Delhi, Mumbai, Andhra
Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh (West), Rajasthan, West Bengal,
Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Assam, North East, Jammu & Kashmir for 122.95
billion.
Bharti Airtel wins broadband spectrum in four circles: Maharashtra, Karnataka,
Punjab and Kolkata for 33.14 billion.
On 18 November 2010, Bharti Airtel announced a re-branding campaign wherein,
they would be referred as airtel, with a new logo.
On 20 December 2010, Airtel launched its new identity for Bangladesh
subscribers.
On 23 December 2010, Airtel opened its first underground terrestrial fiber optic
cable built in alliance with China Telecom.
2011
On 24 January 2011, Airtel announced the launch of its 3G services in India.
On 31 January 2011, Airtel launched wallet service – Airtel Money in the
millennium city of Gurgaon.
On 18 February 2011, Airtel Digital TV brings cricket world cup in High
Definition.
On 14 March 2011, Bharti Airtel announced the launch of 'Airtel Broadband TV'.
On 11 April 2011, Bharti Airtel and Apple bring the iPhone 4 to India.
On 18 April 2011, Bharti Airtel enters into a partnership with photo service
Zoomin.com.
On 17 May 2011, Airtel launches the world’s first USSD-based Facebook access
service in India – Facebook by Fonetwish.
On 2 June 2011, Bharti Airtel offers on-demand online movie viewing services –
launches 'Airtel Movies'

22. 22
On 16 June 2011, Airtel digital TV launches iKisaan – the world's first interactive
service in Hindi.
On 27 June 2011, Airtel 3G launches international video calling services.
On 7 July 2011, Bharti Airtel announces new organization structure for its India
and South Asia operations.
On 18 July 2011, Airtel digital TV adds 41 new channels.
On 25 July 2011, Bharti Airtel Launches Facebook for Every Phone.
On 16 August 2011, Wide availability of Airtel Service Centers in Rajasthan
creates easy touch points for customer service.
On 19 September 2011, Bharti Airtel announces GO! GO! GOAL Contest 2011.
On 22 September 2011, Airtel digital TV brings the TV series "Johnny Test" to
India.
On 26 September 2011, Airtel Youth Star kicks off 'Friends Dance Carnival' in
Andhra Pradesh.
On 28 October 2011, 2011 Formula 1 Airtel Grand Prix of India Winner's Trophy
Revealed.
On 1 November 2011, Airtel digital TV now has 11 True HD channels, Expands
total channel count to 262.
On 11 November 2011, Bharti Airtel named amongst the top 25 companies for
leaders globally.
On 25 November 2011, Mr. Sharlin Thayil, CEO – Bharti Airtel, AP launches
iPhone 4S in Hyderabad.
On 1 December 2011, Airtel introduces India's first free mobile access to Twitter.
On 12 December 2011, Bharti Airtel recognised for the delivery of best network
services with customer focus at Telecom Centre of Excellence Awards.
On 21 December 2011, Airtel launches exciting recharge offers for mobile
customers in Rajasthan.
2012
On 11 January 2012, Airtel launched Comedy FM on Airtel Mobile.
On 12 January 2012, Airtel launches all new "BBM Plan" for its postpaid mobile
customers on BlackBerry.
On 23 January 2012, Airtel prepaid mobile recharge made easier with netbanking
at www.airtel.in
On 30 January 2012, Airtel digital TV launches iKidsworld.
On 2 February 2012, Airtel launched Vh1 Radio GAGA powered by Hungama on
Airtel Mobile.
On 3 February 2012, India's largest collection of Hello Tunes is now available
online for Airtel mobile customers.

23. 23
On 4 February 2012, Bharti Airtel announces consolidated IFRS results for the
third quarter and nine months ended 31 December 2011.
On 10 February 2012, Bharti Airtel launched 3 Pack Education Portal for its
mobile customers across India.
On 27 February 2012, Bharti Airtel selects Infosys as its technology partner for
airtel money.
On 29 February 2012, Bharti Airtel appoints Nokia Siemens Networks to supply,
manage 4G network in Maharashtra.
On 27 May 2012, Bharti Airtel announced its strategic foray into the mobile
advertising (m-Advertising) segment, in India.
In 2012, Bharti Airtel signed a pact with Opera Software, to provide its customers
with Opera Mini browsers.
On 24 October 2012, Bharti Airtel's mobile user base in Africa crosses 60 million.
2013
On 4 February 2013, Bharti Airtel launches its emergency alert service in eastern
region In 2013 the department of telecommunications (DoT) was investigating
Bharti Airtel for violations of a license agreement the company violated between
2003 and 2005.
2014
On 18 February 2014, Bharti Airtel said it has signed a "strategic agreement" to
acquire Loop Mobile's three million subscribers and its 2G network comprising
over 2,500 cell sites and optic fibre in the financial capital, subject to regulatory
approvals. Together with its existing 4.3 million users, Bharti Airtel would replace
Vodafone India – with 7.1 million users – as the No. 1 in Mumbai by subscribers.
It would, however, continue to trail Vodafone in revenue market share —around
27% to nearly 36%
India's largest telecom operator Bharti Airtel acquired Loop Mobile that has mobile
network only in Mumbai circle. With this acquisition, Bharti becomes the top operator
with seven million subscribers followed by Vodafone with 6.8 million subscribers.

24. 24
Subscriber Base
Bharti Airtel has about 243.336 million subscribers worldwide—232.95 million in India
and South Asia and 50.949 million in Africa as of the end of December 2011. The
numbers include mobile services subscribers in 19 countries and Indian Telemedia
services and Digital services subscribers.
India
The Airtel wireless subscriber base according to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India
(TRAI) as of November 2012 was:
Metros
Delhi – 9,105,718
Mumbai – 3,58,7060
Kolkata – 3,606,616
Chennai – 3,428,293
"A" Circle
Andhra Pradesh – 18,041,904
Gujarat – 6,927,459
Karnataka – 16,044,964
Maharashtra – 9,849,973
Tamil Nadu – 10,094,293
"B" Circle
Haryana – 2,267,166
Kerala – 3,393,868
Madhya Pradesh – 9,675,239
Punjab – 6,851,338
Rajasthan – 14,385,762
Uttar Pradesh (East) – 15,105,455
Uttar Pradesh (West) – 6,556,052
West Bengal – 9,084,371

25. 25
"C" Circle
Assam – 3,809,218
Bihar – 18,527,460
Himachal Pradesh – 1,915,405
Jammu and Kashmir – 2,300,268
North East India (excluding Assam) – 2,551,134
Orissa – 6,696,681
Airtel is the market leader in India with about 183 million wireless subscribers in India or
about 20.62% market share at the end of November 2012. In 2013 version of the The
Brand Trust Report published by Trust Research Advisory, Airtel is placed as the most
trusted mobile operator brand in India.
One Network:
One Network is a borderless mobile phone network across all Airtel operating countries
which enable customers to move freely between the countries in which Airtel operates,
and be treated as "virtual" local customers of the visited network in terms of pricing,
while retaining their home network service functionality. It is the world's first free
intercontinental incoming roaming service. Airtel customers in Africa not need to register
for the One Network service or buy new SIM cards as the is enabled automatically. One
Network allows customers travelling to One Network countries to make outgoing
calls/SMS at the same rates as local customers and recharge with local top-up cards or
with home network top up cards while using the same number and SIM. Receiving
incoming calls is free.
Airtel offers the service currently to its Africa customers travelling to any of the
following 27 countries. In 8 of these countries, the One Network is operated in
partnership with other mobile operators. Airtel plans to extend the service to its South
Asia customers soon.

26. 26
Customer Satisfaction Research:
*Total No. of Questions?
- 2
*Type of questionnaires used?
Q1 - Closed-End questionnaire model.
Q2 - Liketr scale questionnaire model.
*What is the Sample Size?
- 50
*What is the sample area?
-Delhi, Noida, Greater Noida
*Which all carrier companies involved?
a)Airtel
b)!dea
c)Vodafone

27. 27
d)Tata
e)Reliance
*Questions asked?
Instructions: Please tick mark the following questions.
1) Which of the following carriers do you use?
a) !dea b) Airtel c) Reliance d) Tata e) Vodafone
2) How do you rate the services of your carrier?
1 2 3 4 5
Extremely Satisfactory Neutral Dissatisfactory Extremely
Satisfactory Dissatisfactory
Done……Thank you for sparing your valuable time!!!

28. 28
Results of the research:
Pie Chart: Idea, Airtel, Reliance, Tata, Vodafone.
*ES - Extremely Satisfactory.
*S - Satisfactory.
*N - Neutral.
*D - Dissatisfactory.
*ED - Extremely Dissatisfactory
12%
46%
6%
18%
18%
Users
Idea
Airtel
Reliance
Tata
Vodafone

29. 29
Individual analysis:
5
7
6
2
3
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
ES S N D ED
Airtel
Airtel
2
1 1
0
2
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
ES S N D ED
!dea
!dea

30. 30
1
4
1
3
0
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
ES S N D ED
Tata
Tata
0 0
1
2
0
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
ES S N D ED
Reliance
Reliance

31. 31
Conclusion: According to the research results airtel has got the first customer satisfaction
Feedback when compared to other mobile carriers and Vodafone got the second place as
airtel is providing many features like airtel money and other services at an affordable
price most of Indians prefer to use airtel.
Source: Wikipedia, TOI, Yahoo News, Market Research, YouTube…
2
1
3
1
2
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
ES S N D ED
Vodafone
Vodafone