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.
Airtel, which upgraded all postpaid customers to priority plans, argued that the service did not throttle or degrade the experience for its prepaid customers, forming the majority of its 368 million customers in the country.
Bharti will invest an additional $500 million (over Rs 3,700 crore) into OneWeb, to become the largest shareholder in the satellite communications company that billionaire Sunil Mittal-run Bharti Group along with the UK government had rescued from bankruptcy last year. The investment is a result of exercise of a 'call option' by Bharti. On completion of the transaction and with Eutelsat's $550 million investment, Bharti will hold 38.6 per cent. The UK government, Eutelsat and SoftBank will each own 19.3 per cent, OneWeb said in a statement.
Supreme Court had on October 24 upheld government contention that non-core revenue in telecoms groups should be included in adjusted gross revenue. According to DoT's calculations, Bharti Airtel faces a liability of around Rs 42,000 crore after including licence fees and spectrum usage charges while Vodafone-Idea may have to pay about Rs 40,000 crore.
Bharti Global and UK government-led OneWeb on Friday announced the launch of 36 communications satellites and said it aims to offer high-speed internet from its constellation of satellites in India by mid-2022. The recommencement of satellite launches by OneWeb comes within weeks of billionaire Sunil Bharti Mittal-run Bharti Group along with the British government taking over as the new owners of the broadband satellite communications company, which emerged from bankruptcy. The Low Earth Orbit (LEO) broadband satellite communications company on Friday launched the 36 satellites from a Soyuz launch vehicle, which began from the Vostochny Cosmodrome, in Russia.
.jpg)
On May 24, 2012, Bharti Airtel and Qualcomm announced an agreement under which Bharti had acquired 49 per cent interest in Qualcomm AP's India entities with licences to offer 4G data services in four circles of Delhi, Mumbai, Haryana and Kerala.
Mittal would travel in trucks with his consignments.
Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani on Monday said his company is open to joining hands with Bharti Airtel for improving telecom network for 4G services in Punjab.
Bharti Airtel promoter Bharti Telecom will buy a 3.33 per cent Airtel stake from Singtel for 2.25 billion Singapore dollars or about Rs 12,895 crore in 90 days' time, the telecom operator said on Thursday. Bharti Group chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal's family and Singtel are co-investors in Bharti Telecom (BTL). Singtel in a statement said that after the transaction, Singtel Group is expected to own an effective stake of 29.7 per cent in Bharti Airtel, which is estimated to be worth SGD 22 billion (about Rs 1.26 lakh crore).
Bharti Airtel and Tata Group have terminated discussions for a merger of their direct-to-home (DTH) business, according to a Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) filing on Saturday.
Bharti Group-backed OneWeb on Monday said it has entered an arrangement with the commercial arm of ISRO, NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), to launch its satellite in India from 2022.
The Sunil Bharti Mittal-led firm on Sunday approached its competitors to set up intra-circle roaming and other processes in the way it is done by the sector to respond to disasters.
Sunil Mittal-promoted Bharti Teletech has been presented the Electronics and Computer Software Export Promotion Council award for achieving the highest exports in telecommunications equipment during 2001-02.
Managing director of Ashok Leyland R Seshasayee was elected CII president while Sunil Bharti Mittal of Bharti Telecom became the vice president on Wednesday.
'We operate in 16 countries already, and therefore adding the UK to it, and beginning a chapter in the European continent is the next step.'
India's leading private sector cellular operator, Airtel is targeting a mobile customer base of 25 million in the next two years, Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman and group managing director, Bharti Enterprises, said on Wednesday.
Lack of time was cited as the main reason for Bharti Chairman Sunil Mittal's exit from the Unilever board.
Next week, the government is auctioning spectrum at a minimum bid price of Rs 14,000 crore for 5 MHz of airwaves for all the country's 22 telecom zones.
The estimated costs of these weddings start from Rs 100 crore and go up to Rs 700 crore.
On receiving the award at a glittering function, Mittal said: "This is a tremendous honour and I would like to thank the GSM Association for considering me worthy of this award."
January 22, 2024 has passed into history. Scenes from a day of religious fervour in many parts of India.
Bharti Airtel Chairman and Managing Director Sunil Bharti Mittal, Vodafone Plc CEO Vittorio Colao, Telenor CEO Jon Fredrik Baksaas and Idea Cellular Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla on Wednesday met ministers and senior government officials to present the industry's concerns over telecom regulator Trai's proposals on the auction of spectrum.
Spectrum allocation for satellite services came up as a dominant theme at the launch of 36 communication satellites by OneWeb, a Bharti group venture, here on Sunday. Following the launch, Bharti Enterprises chairman Sunil Mittal, in a conversation with a group of reporters, reiterated that spectrum auction did not make sense in the case of satellite services. "This (satellite services) is not competing with mobile services where you can justify the auction.
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.
Operators oppose levying of charges for additional spectrum with retrospective effect.
The Minister was talking to media on sidelines of a function organised by Department of Telecommunication for new version of Internet addresses, IPv6.
Bharti Airtel is the country's largest telecom operator.
An 80-member strong Indian delegation from the Confederation of Indian Industry will participate in the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, from 23-27 January 2008.
Telephone subscribers in the country is expected to reach 300-400 million by 2010 from 100 million currently, Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman and MD, Bharti Airtel said.
Union Communications and IT Minister A Raja has expressed his interest in bringing down national roaming rates to zero, further cutting international roaming rates and favouring technology neutrality in the country.
India's Sunil Mittal has been adjudged Asia's Businessman of the Year by prestigious US magazine Fortune for steering his telecom business in the world's fastest growing wireless market.
It is of course a coincidence, but the pace of corporate news in India is accelerating while the new government, whose election last week sparked a surge of corporate optimism and a stock market boom, dithers over which ministers to appoint to which jobs.
Two days after Bharti Airtel announced the launch of its fourth-generation (4G) wireless broadband services in Kolkata, it is tough to miss the mark of the campaign in the city's key locations.
Sunil Mittal is confident that Airtel will retain its numero uno position, inspite of Vodafone's competition.
The Confederation of Indian Industry expects an upswing in the Indo-UK bilateral relations under new British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Providing job quotas for the socially underprivileged in private sector should be voluntary and the industry should not be forced to implement reservation, captains of Indian industry said on Tuesday.
Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman and managing director of Bharti Tele-Ventures, sold 3,13,005 shares on March 9 and 24,36,995 shares on March 10 of his holding in the company.
Corporates are foraying into portfolio management services, with biggies like Reliance Money, Bharti Axa, Tata Capital and others taking the plunge.
Top business leaders to raise issues on investment, trade and the rupee
