For Vittal, who will take over from the current CEO, Sanjay Kapoor, in March, reversing the telco's shrinking revenues and market share will be among the first of the challenges.
Bharti Airtel CEO Gopal Vittal on Wednesday asserted that a large nation like India needs three private players in the telecom sector, and hoped the government would take measures to offer relief to the industry that is facing "serious financial stress". The comments assume significance in the backdrop of Vodafone Idea's desperate struggle to stay afloat. Aditya Birla Group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla had in June this year offered to hand over the group's stake in debt-laden Vodafone Idea Ltd (VIL) to the government or any other entity to ensure that the company remains a going concern.
Sunil Bharti Mittal, 68, will retire as chairman of Airtel Africa in July after the conclusion of this year's annual general meeting (AGM), the board of the African arm of India's second-largest telecom service provider Bharti Airtel said in a statement to the exchanges on Wednesday.
The new chief had spent last year understanding data space.
Airtel CEO said, the 5G ecosystem is yet to develop in India and the prices are very high. Telecom companies including Vodafone Idea (VI) and Reliance Jio have also said that the current prices are exorbitant.
Bharti Airtel on Monday reported a 168 per cent year-on-year rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 3,593 crore for the September quarter, and the company unveiled top-level changes, including Gopal Vittal moving into the role of executive vice chairman on January 1, 2026. India's second-largest telco - that competes with Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea in the Indian telecom market - clocked quarterly revenues of Rs 41,473 crore, 12 per cent higher than the year-ago period, aided by strong momentum in India and growth in Africa.
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.
Telecom operator Bharti Airtel expects to launch 5G services within a month and cover key metros by December, a top official of the company said on Wednesday. The telco plans to cover all urban areas of the country by the end of 2023, according to the company's CEO. Bharti Airtel CEO Gopal Vittal in a communication to the customers said Airtel 5G will deliver dramatically higher speeds of 20-30 times compared to a 4G network.
Telecom operator Bharti Airtel on Tuesday reported a 2.8 per cent decline in its consolidated net profit to Rs 830 crore for the third quarter ended December 2021. The company had recorded a net profit of Rs 854 crore in the same period a year ago. Consolidated revenue increased by 12.6 per cent to Rs 29,867 crore, from Rs 26,518 crore in the December 2020 quarter.
India's second-largest telecom service provider Bharti Airtel will call in March 2026 the final tranche of about Rs 15,741 crore from its 2021 rights issue of Rs 21,000 crore, proceeds from which will be used towards retiring majority of non-government-related debt.
Kotak Mahindra Bank to have a 19.9% stake in the proposed banking venture.
The board of Bharti Airtel approved the rights issue to raise up to Rs 25,000 crore through the issuance of fully paid up shares at a price of Rs 220 per share and to raise an additional Rs 7,000 crore via the foreign currency perpetual bond issue.
Consolidated net debt of Airtel increased by 24 per cent to Rs 97,395.2 crore.
India's second-largest telecom operator Bharti Airtel on Tuesday posted more than twofold year-on-year jump in its consolidated net profit for the March quarter to Rs 2,008 crore, buoyed by a lift in average revenue per user and an exceptional gain. The telco said its Q4 scorecard was backed by strong performance delivery across the portfolio and its CEO Gopal Vittal, in a statement, exuded optimism about opportunities in the coming years and Airtel being "well-poised" as a company. Airtel, which competes in the market with Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea, as well as state-owned BSNL/MTNL, promised to maintain razor sharp focus on financial flexibility, optimising the capital structure and finance cost.
Consolidated EBITDA came in at Rs 8,265 crore.
People given to hyperbole would say that Gopal Vittal's rise at Bharti Airtel has been "meteoric". But in his case, superlatives could perhaps be forgiven. Here's why
Telecom major Bharti Airtel on Wednesday reported over two-fold jump in consolidated net profit at Rs 1,436.5 crore in the third quarter of 2014-15 on the back of continued growth in mobile data revenue.
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.
But, unlike its competitors, it did not have a comprehensive infrastructure back-end and required fresh investments.
Bharti Airtel on Thursday said its 5G services have gone live in eight cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Siliguri, Nagpur and Varanasi. The customer availing 5G services will have to pay as per their existing 4G plan, it said. "Airtel has been at the forefront of India's telecom revolution for the last 27 years.
Telecom operator Bharti Airtel will start rolling out 5G services this month and cover all towns and key rural areas of the country by March 2024, a senior company official said on Tuesday. Bharti Airtel managing director and CEO Gopal Vittal also said that the price of mobile services in India is very low and needs to go up. "We intend to launch 5G starting August and extend to a Pan India roll out very soon.
Telecom operator Bharti Airtel will start rolling out 5G services later this month as it signed requisite agreements with Ericsson, Nokia and Samsung. At the recently held much-awaited spectrum auction for 5G services by the Department of Telecom, Airtel bid for and acquired 19867.8 MHZ spectrum in 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 3300 MHz, and 26 GHz frequencies. "We are delighted to announce that Airtel will commence roll out of 5G services in August.
Telecom operator Bharti Airtel's CEO has warned customers about rising cases of cyber-frauds, citing a recent instance of a fraudster who posed as company executive and under the guise of updating KYC form, tricked a user into revealing bank details to transfer large amount from the bank account. In an email outreach to subscribers, Gopal Vittal, CEO of Airtel urged users to be vigilant against such cases of cyber fraud that are becoming "alarmingly frequent". Vittal spoke of a recent case where a cyber-fraudster posing as company executive called up an Airtel customer on the pretext of updating his Know Your Customer (KYC) form, tricked him into revealing his bank details and transferred a large sum of money from his bank account.
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.
Total revenue dropped by 10.5 per cent to Rs 19,634 crore in the fourth quarter of 2017-18
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.
Six consecutive profitable quarters after an equal number of losses - for Bharti Airtel, the turnaround has been quick. But it is not a result of higher tariffs or absence of exceptional items alone. Execution and strategy are playing a part, too. Bharti Airtel's chief executive officer Gopal Vittal summed it up in a post-result conference call last month. "We track the profit in each of our 237,500 (cell) sites.
With this acquisition, Airtel will be second company, after Reliance Jio, in the country to have pan-India presence in 2300 Mhz band
Vodafone Idea and Airtel have made provisions for their liabilities arising from the Supreme Court order in their latest September quarter results.
Bharti Airtel's total revenue for the December 2018 quarter stood at Rs 20,519 crore, just one per cent higher than the Rs 20,319 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year.
Bharti Airtel on Thursday announced the commercial launch of 4G services in 296 towns across India after testing the market in select cities.
Airtel said it will implement 25 per cent more stringent mobile call drop benchmark of 1.5 per cent versus 2 per cent prescribed by the regulator Trai.
The process of switching off the 3G network has already started with Kolkata in the recent-concluded June quarter. By September, the shutdown will be affected in 6-7 more circles and between December and March the entire 3G network would be shut down.
Average data usage on Airtel India network grew about three fold to 2611 megabyte (about 2.5 GB) per customer from 904 MB on YoY basis. But the average revenue from the data services per customer declined by 22.7 per cent during the period.
As the new owner, Airtel will take over Telenor India's spectrum, licences and operations, including its employees and customer base of 44 million.
The merits and demerits of the telcos' 5G strategy however is clearly dependent on the financial muscle of players, reports Surajeet Das Gupta.
27 large listed firms give double-digit hikes to top executives despite a decline in net profit.
The next spectrum auction will be held in late February 2024 and the reserve price for most bands will remain the same as the 2022 auction, department of telecommunications (DoT) officials have said. The government expects operators to go for low bands beginning in 600 megahertz (MHz), licences for many of which are lapsing soon. Back in September 2021, the government had decided that spectrum auctions should be held annually.
Despite low tariffs, voice usage is not growing.
Telecom operator Bharti Airtel Chairman Sunil Mittal on Wednesday said the telecom sector reforms approved by the Cabinet will ensure that the industry is able to invest fearlessly, and the company will respond to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call to invest and accelerate the country's growth. Among a series of breathers for the stressed telecom sector, the Cabinet has approved the inclusion of revenues earned only from telecom services in the adjusted gross revenue (AGR), and the removal of penalty on dues to be paid to the government prospectively. Mittal congratulated and thanked the government for undertaking these seminal reforms to lift an industry that is at the core of his Digital India vision.
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