Sunil Mittal-led Bharti Airtel has become the world's third largest mobile operator with 303 million subscribers.
Telecom major Bharti Airtel unveiled its new logo on Thursday, November 18, and also announced that its subscriber base has crossed the 200 million mark, with nearly 150 million users in the domestic market alone. The company has 40 million users in Africa, while the rest are in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
Bharti's ratings headroom is likely to improve with an equity infusion, planned asset sales and growing EBITDA from Africa.
India's second-largest telecom firm Bharti Airtel on Tuesday reported a net profit of Rs 1,134 crore for the September 2021 quarter, and said it is witnessing strong business momentum with growth in 4G customers and increase in mobile ARPU. This is against a loss (attributable to owners of the parent) of 763.2 crore during the year-ago quarter, the company said in a statement. Its consolidated revenues for the second quarter of FY21 stood at Rs 28,326.4 crore, up 18.8 per cent year-on-year (on a comparable basis) and 13 per cent y-o-y on a reported basis, it added.
While Airtel's India wireless operational performance was one of its worst in recent times, Jio surprised the Street by reporting a higher expected operating and net profit.
The acquisition will make Airtel the largest mobile operator in the Republic of Congo with around 2.6 million customers, the company said in a statement.
In FY23, Indian operations accounted for 41.6 per cent of the consolidated revenue of India's top five multinationals, up from 34 per cent in FY18 and 33.2 per cent and 34.2 per cent in FY21.
Revenue soared 6.2 per cent to Rs 20,602.2 crore for the three months ended March 31, 2019.
The man: Manoj Kohli, the affable CEO of Bharti Airtel's international business. The challenge: Replicate Bharti's low-cost operational model so successful in India across 16 diverse African countries, including Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana and Congo.
Consolidated net debt of Airtel increased by 24 per cent to Rs 97,395.2 crore.
But, unlike its competitors, it did not have a comprehensive infrastructure back-end and required fresh investments.
The bench comprising Justices N K Sodhi and Samar Ray, had on August 11, permitted Mehra's lawyer to make both Bharti and MTN parties to the case. SAT made Bharti and MTN parties to the case, based on an application made by Mehra's lawyer Janak Dwarkadas, a source close to the development said.
Bharti Airtel, India's largest mobile operator, on Wednesday entered into an agreement with Opera Software, under which its customers across India, Africa, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh will be able to access a customised version of the latter's internet browser on their mobiles.
Bharti Airtel is learnt to be considering a bid for South African telecom firm MTN, which has operations in over 20 countries. If successful, it will catapult the company into the league of top global telecom players.
Within a year of Gopal Vittal becoming the joint MD and CEO of Bharti Airtel's India operations, the company has elevated him as the MD and CEO for Bharti Airtel's operations in India and South Asia.
Bharti hopes to make Airtel the country's most-admired brand by 2010. Has it done enough to rise above the clutter?
The MTN Group, the largest mobile operator in sub-Saharan Africa, might seek a 'non-compete agreement' with Bharti Airtel, India's largest private telecom company, to bar it from entering the 21-odd markets in which the Johannesburg-listed company operates, banking sources said.
ontinuing its acquisition spree in the international market, Bharti Airtel on Wednesday said the company will acquire 100 per cent stake in Telecom Seychelles for $62 million (about Rs 288 crore).
Leading telecom operator Bharti Airtel on Wednesday said it has earmarked a capital expenditure of $3.1 billion (over Rs 14,000 crore) for India and other global operations in the current fiscal.
This move gives Airtel and Chinese major immense benefits.
Total revenue came in at Rs 20,422 crore for the September quarter, which was 6.2 per cent lower than Rs 21,777 crore notched in the year-ago period.
Warid Telecom, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Dhabi Group, offers mobile telecom services with a user base of over 2.9 million in Bangladesh.
Bharti Airtel, nearly a third owned by Southeast Asia's top phone carrier SingTel, said it was helped by lower competition and an increase in voice call prices.
Bharti Enterprises Group CFO Sarvjit S Dhillon said there is more clarity on the regulatory front now, which is a good sign for the industry.
The telecom to look at opportunities to acquire another firm in India.
Bharti Airtel operates in 20 countries across Asia and Africa and is the world's fourth-biggest cellular carrier by customers
Under the new agreement, IBM will provide end-user services to airtel employees across Africa in French and English.
Bharti Airtel has received financing commitments of up to $2.5 billion from top Chinese banks.
The company added 10 million customers across its operations in 17 African countries in less than 12 months of having crossed 50 million subscribers.
Bharti's results included its new African operations that it acquired in June from Kuwaiti telecom group Zain.
Tata companies perform well while major firms in emerging markets do badly.
The idea is to reduce capital investments and improve profitability.
According to BSE, Bharti Airtel's revenue (on a standalone basis, excluding that from foreign operations and their subsidiaries) stood at Rs 49,919 crore (Rs 499.19 billion).
Bharti's talks with South African mobile operator MTN Group Ltd are now centered on a full takeover by the Indian operator for a combination of cash and stock, The Wall Street Journal said quoting a person familiar with the situation. The person said Bharti was considering paying as much as $20 billion in cash, said the paper. Bharti said on Tuesday it was in talks with MTN to 'combine the strengths of the two leading players from emerging markets.
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd chairman Kuldeep Goyal has been trying to get a foothold in Africa since February this year when the government allowed the state-owned giant to pursue business opportunities in that continent. The five-month old search continues; Goyal says BSNL is looking at acquiring stakes or licences in African markets as and when they are put up for sale.
Indian firms, including Tata Steel, in the past have formed SPVs to acquire foreign companies to protect local operations and also to avoid legal hindrances. The SPV may be registered in a tax-haven country, like Mauritius or Bahamas, the sources said. The move to float an SPV will help Bharti Airtel to continue being listed on Indian stock exchanges, while MTN's promoters will be given a stake in the SPV.
Keen to capitalise on the growing geopolitical support from African nations after the recently concluded G20 Summit, India is working with the African Union to hold the fourth India-Africa Forum Summit later this year in Kenya's Nairobi, sources said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to attend the mega meet along with as many as 50 African leaders, they added. First held in New Delhi in 2008, the India-Africa Forum Summit marked India's initial diplomatic efforts to seek a comprehensive partnership with the African bloc of nations as a whole, at a time when China had begun its own outreach.
He was not a part of the meeting that made the decision but that has not stopped the Champions League Governing Council to quote under-fire chairman Lalit Modi while announcing on Sunday that the Twenty20 tournament would be held in South Africa this year.
Bharti Airtel will spend up to $800 million (about Rs 3,565 crore) this fiscal on setting up infrastructure network for its new acquisition Zain Africa.
The launch of 5G services in India turbocharged mobile download speeds here, pushing the country's ranking 72 notches higher to 47th spot in Speedtest Global Index, ahead of nations like Japan, the UK and Brazil, according to Ookla. India's speed performance has zoomed up 3.59 times since the introduction of 5G, it said dubbing the country's 5G advancement as "remarkable". In this global pecking order, India ranked not only ahead of its neighbours like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan, but also some G20 countries, such as Mexico (90th), Turkey (68th), the UK (62nd), Japan (58th), Brazil (50th place), and South Africa (48th place).
