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Airtel is a name that unites large numbers of people in India with billions of people all over the world. This telecom giant is currently one of the most reputable brands in the industry. Nothing short of remarkable can be said about the company’s journey from being a modest regional operator restricted to the city of Delhi to sclaing to become the second biggest mobile provider in the Asia Pacific region.
The second-largest service provider in India, Airtel, said that the organisation has emerged “quite firmly” from the five-year tornado and is now highly solid, adding that it is under tremendous circumstances that an organization’s real institutions and character are tested.
According to Sunil Mittal, Airtel’s chairman, telecom is among the most “professionalised” businesses in the nation and its solid organisational framework has helped the company weather wave after wave of adversity. He said that best-in-class personnel handle Airtel, which makes Airtel what it is today.
An international provider of telecom services with headquarters in New Delhi is Bharti Airtel Limited, popularly known as Airtel.
Know more about Airtel, its company history, the founder of Airtel, its business model, investments, etc., by reading this article further.
Airtel – Company Highlights
| Startup Name | Airtel |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Bharti Airtel Limited |
| Headquarters | Nelson Mandela Road, New Delhi, India |
| Industry | Telecommunications |
| Founders | Sunil Bharti Mittal |
| Founded | 7 July 1995 |
| Key people | Sunil Bharti Mittal (Chairman), and Gopal Vittal ( CEO) |
| Website | airtel.com |
About Airtel and How it Works?
Airtel – Industry
Airtel – Name, Logo, and Tagline
Airtel – Founders
Airtel – Startup Story
Airtel – Mission, and Vision Statement
Airtel – Business Model
Airtel – Growth
Airtel – Joint Ventures
Airtel – Sponsorships
Airtel – Funding, and Investors
Airtel – Investments
Airtel – Acquisitions
Airtel – Competitors
Airtel – Challenges Faced
Airtel – Future Plans
About Airtel and How it Works?
Bharti Airtel Ltd. does business in the provision of direct-to-home solutions, communications systems and services, and passive infrastructure services, The following business segments make up how the firm conducts its operations:
Mobile services for Africa, India, and South Asia, as well as for Airtel Business, Tower Infrastructure Services, and Digital TV Services. The segment for mobile services in India and South Asia includes voice and data telecom services delivered through wireless technologies in those regions. The distribution of data and voice telecommunication solutions to customers in the African continent is covered under the Mobile Services Africa section.
The voice and data communications based on fixed-network and broadband technologies are covered by the Telemedia Services category.
The sector for digital broadcasting services offered over the direct-to-home network is called “Digital TV Services.” By acting as a single point of contact for all communications requirements spanning data and voice, network integration, and managed services, the Airtel Business sector encompasses end-to-end telecom solutions being delivered to big Indian and international organisations.
Installing, running, and maintaining wireless communication towers in India are all included in the category called Tower Infrastructure Services.
Mobile commerce services are included in the other’s section, along with administrative and support services.
Ipsita Acharya
Airtel – Industry
Information may be transmitted using a variety of methods through the wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. This is known as telecommunication. As a result, slower systems (like postal mail) are not included in the field. It has its roots in humans’ need for communication at a distance greater than what is possible with the human voice, but with a similar level of expediency.
The volume of the worldwide telecom services industry, which was estimated at USD 1,657.7 billion in 2021, is anticipated to rise at a CAGR of 5.4% from 2022 to 2028. One of the main drivers propelling this business is the increase in expenditure on the installation of 5G infrastructures as a result of the shift in consumer preference toward smartphone devices and next-generation technology.
Other possible drivers of market expansion include an increase in mobile subscribers, skyrocketing high-speed data connectivity demand, and increased demand for value-added managed services.
Unquestionably, one of the main areas for ongoing technical developments over the past few decades has been the worldwide communication network.
Airtel – Name, Logo, and Tagline
Airtel’s full name is Bharti Airtel.
Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd, the original name of Bharti Airtel Ltd, was formed in 1995. Bharti Telecom Ltd., an Indian firm that was formed, pushed the business.
The company claims that its distinctive symbol is an interpretation of the letter “a” from its name Airtel. It is warm and inviting, almost like a living thing, thanks to its curved shape and the soft accents on the red colour. It stands for an unstoppable dynamic force of energy that strengthens our relationship with our clients.
Bharti Airtel’s tagline says, “Express Yourself.”
Airtel – Founders
Airtel was founded by Sunil Bharti Mittal in 1995.
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Bharti Enterprises, which includes holdings in telecom, retail, real estate, financial services, agri-products, and renewable energy, was founded and is led by Sunil Bharti Mittal. With more than 300 million users in South Asia and Africa, Bharti Airtel, the group’s core business, ranks third among all telecom providers globally.
Presently, Sunil serves as the International Chamber of Commerce’s First Vice-Chairman (ICC). He also sits on the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Telecom Board, the Broadband Commission, the Prime Minister of Singapore’s Research, Innovation, and Enterprise Council, the Prime Minister of India’s Council on Trade and Industry, and the Chairman of the Telecom Steering Committee of the World Economic Forum (WEF).
He is a member of the India-US, India-UK, and India-Japan CEO Forums and serves as co-chair of the India-Africa Business Council and the India-Sri Lanka CEO Forum. He formerly held the position of President of India’s leading business association, the Confederation of Indian Industry.
One of India’s highest civilian honours, the Padma Bhushan, was given to Sunil. Sunil, a graduate of Harvard Business School, serves on the Governing Board of the Indian School of Business, the Board of Dean’s Advisors of Harvard Business School, and the Global Advisory Council of Harvard University. He is on the board of directors of the Qatar Foundation Endowment and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, respectively.
Airtel – Startup Story
Bharti Telecom Limited, which had its humble origins in the Indian telecom sector in 1986, is where Airtel got its start. When most of India was still using rotary phones in 1986, Sunil Bharti Mittal’s firm was the first to sell push-button phones in that nation. In their first joint venture, Siemens AG of Germany, they switched from importing push-button landlines from Taiwan to manufacturing them in India.
To replace the outdated, clumsy telephones that were in use at the time, Sunil Mittal began making push-button phones in India in 1984. Previously, he had imported them from a Singaporean business, Singtel.
To produce electronic push-button phones, Bharti Telecom Limited (BTL) was established and a technological partnership with Siemens AG of Germany was established. Bharti began producing fax machines, cordless phones, and other telecom equipment in the early 1990s. He gave the name “Mitbrau” to his first push-button phone.
He acquired one of the four licences for mobile phone networks that were available for auction in India in 1992. With the French telecom company Vivendi, Mittal successfully closed a transaction. He was one of the first business people in India to see the mobile telecom industry as a key growth sector.
When Bharti Cellular Limited was established to provide cellular services under the brand name Airtel, his plans were ultimately authorised by the government in 1994, and he debuted services in Delhi in 1995.
Bharti was the first telecom provider to surpass the 2 million mobile subscriber threshold in a short period. Under the brand name “India one,” Bharti has reduced the STD cellular charges in India.
Later, with innovation at its core, the business introduced several telecom technologies to the Indian market. Bharti Telecom Limited established the foundation for the business’ mobile activities in 1992 by acquiring a licence to construct a cellular network in Delhi.
As Bharti Tele-Ventures, it started operating in Delhi in 1995. Through different collaborations and acquisitions, the service was expanded to several additional states.
PV Vyshnavi
Airtel – Mission, and Vision Statement
Airtel’s vision statement says, “Our vision is to enrich the lives of our customers. Our obsession is to win customers for life through an exceptional experience. “
Airtel’s mission statement says, “Hunger to win customers for life.”
Airtel – Business Model
The two primary areas of concentration for Airtel are company growth or expansion and client acquisition and servicing (retention). Their mission and vision clearly express that their ultimate objective is to become a telecom service that is appreciated across the world, with a primary focus on customer pleasure and the provision of cutting-edge services that are frequently more affordable than traditional offerings.
Technology, network administration, backend programs, and other services are among the numerous tasks that are outsourced. Airtel was the first to use this business model, and it serves as an example for many new players.
Apart from their advertising, marketing, and substantial funding, Airtel believes in contracting everything else and follows the “minutes factory” strategy of low price and high quantity.
As the innovator of such a strategy, Airtel is well known for motivating tens of thousands of other businesses and entrepreneurs. In addition to Ericsson, Huawei, and Nokia Networks providing and maintaining Airtel’s equipment, Amdocs, a US-based company, offers Airtel the IT help the company needs.
In addition to a B2B model registered under Airtel Business that supports entrepreneurs and SMEs, it also employs a B2C strategy to generate revenue from its clients. Airtel differentiates itself apart because of its distinctive business strategy, which tries to offer clients the greatest services at reasonable pricing.
It is important to keep in mind that Airtel is not one of the businesses that have seen rapid expansion, but rather one that has established itself as the industry leader by innovating and deserving of that position.
Further easing its path was the fact that it is one of the few telecom service providers to have understood the significance of value-added services (VAS) from the beginning.
Airtel – Growth
Airtel is not a startup that is unknown to growth. Being one of the market leaders, commanding the telecommunications industry of India, Airtel has seen a world of growth since it was founded back in 1995.
Some of the major growth highlights of Airtel at a glance are:
- Airtel is recognised as the 2nd largest mobile network operator in India and the 2nd largest in the world as well.
- Airtel operates in 18+ countries across South Asia and Africa, and in the Channel Islands.
- The company was chosen as the 2nd most valuable brand from India in the first-ever Brandz ranking
- Airtel pioneered outsourcing all of its business operations as a business strategy. Yes, it outsources all of the operations except marketing, sales and finance
- Airtel is credited for building the ‘minutes factory’ model of low cost and high volumes
Airtel 5G Services
Airtel has declared that it will be launching its 5G services later this month, as per reports dated August 10, 2022. The company CEO and MD, Gopal Vittal stated that the company will “extend to a pan-India rollout very soon” after starting the 5G services. These services will be further extended to 5000+ Indian towns and the key rural areas of the country by 2024. This will make it the biggest rollout in history.
Airtel – Joint Ventures
Airtel-Vodafone
Following the signing of a contract with Vodafone, Jersey Airtel, and Guernsey Airtel, two wholly-owned companies of the Bharti Group, announced on May 1 that they will begin offering mobile services in the British Crown Dependency islands of Jersey and Guernsey under the name Airtel-Vodafone. In Jersey and Guernsey, a 3G network is run by Airtel-Vodafone.
Airtel-Ericsson
Airtel’s mobile networks throughout Africa were managed and optimised by Ericsson under a five-year contract that Bharti and Ericsson inked in July 2011. With the most recent technologies, including its multi-standard RBS 6000 base station, Ericsson modernised and improved Airtel’s mobile networks throughout Africa.
Ericsson also offered technology consultancy, network planning & design, and network implementation as part of the modernisation. In Asian operations, Ericsson has served as the managed services and network technology partner.
Airtel – Sponsorships
- Airtel and Manchester United struck a significant agreement on May 9, 2009. As a consequence of the agreement, Airtel was granted the right to broadcast the team’s games to its subscribers.
- The Champions League Twenty20 cricket competition will now be sponsored by Bharti Airtel thanks to a five-year agreement they made with ESPN Star Sports.
- Additionally, Airtel agreed to serve as the Indian Grand Prix’s headline sponsor.
- The FIA GT World Cup for 2018–21 is sponsored by Airtel.
- To serve as the I-title League’s sponsor for the 2013–14 season, Airtel inked a contract.
- Since 2006, Airtel has been the primary sponsor of the Vijay TV shows Airtel Super Singer and Airtel Super Singer Junior.
Airtel – Funding, and Investors
Airtel has raised over $4.4 bn in over 7 funding rounds that the company has seen to date. The last funding round was led by Google, a part of which was completed on July 1, 2022, and allotment of shares part of the deal was completed on July 14, 2022. It was earmarked that Google would be picking up a minority stake of 1.28% then, from the telecom service provider. This deal was made after 5 months since it was proposed. It was on July 14th, 2022, that the telecom giant approved the allotment of more than 71.17 crore shares to the tech behemoth, Google, at an issue price of Rs 734 per equity share, which includes a premium of Rs 729.
It was at a meeting of the ‘Special Committee of Directors for Preferential Allotment’ that this decision of the allotment of shares was taken. After this, now the stakes of Google in Airtel stand at 1.20% of the total post-equity shares or 1.17% of the telecom company on a fully-diluted basis.
| Date | Round | Amount | lead Investors |
|---|---|---|---|
| July 14, 2022 | Post-IPO Equity | $700M | |
| Jan 28, 2022 | Corporate Round | $300M | |
| Feb 25, 2021 | Post-IPO Debt | $1.3B | – |
| Oct 9, 2019 | Post-IPO Debt | $750M | – |
| Feb 5, 2018 | Post-IPO Equity | ₹26.5B | Singtel |
| Dec 13, 2017 | Post-IPO Equity | $350M | Warburg Pincus |
| Aug 22, 2016 | Post-IPO Equity | $659M | – |
Airtel – Investments
Airtel has made 15 investments to date. The last Airtel investment was in Avaada Energy, where the company invested close to $1 mn on March 10, 2022. Here are the details of the recent Airtel investments:
| Date | Organization Name | Round | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 10, 2022 | Avaada Energy | Corporate Round | $986.20K |
| Feb 25, 2022 | Indus Towers | Post-IPO Secondary | $299.09 mn |
| Jan 31, 2022 | Lavelle Networks | Corporate Round | – |
| Dec 18, 2021 | Vahan | Corporate Round | – |
| Sep 15, 2021 | Vahan | Series A | $7.38 mn |
| Nov 21, 2020 | Avaada MHBuldhana | Private Equity Round | $569.34K |
| Sep 23, 2020 | Waybeo | Corporate Round | – |
| Jun 17, 2020 | Lattu kids | Corporate Round | – |
| Jun 9, 2020 | Robi Axiata | Corporate Round | – |
| Oct 25, 2019 | Vahan | Seed Round | – |
Airtel – Acquisitions
Quikmile was the last acquisition of Airtel that happened on November 26, 2019. There are a total of 7 acquisitions made by Airtel to date.
| Acquiree Name | About Acquiree | Date | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quikmile | Integrated SaaS product for logistics. | Nov 26, 2019 | – |
| AuthMe Id Services | AuthMe Id Services develops and offers artificial intelligence (AI) solutions to resolve customer complaints and queries. | Oct 3, 2018 | – |
| Telenor India | Telenor, an Indian mobile network operator. | Aug 3, 2017 | – |
| Tikona- 4G | Tikona 4G Home Broadband is faster than fast, one can stream a video. | Mar 24, 2017 | ₹1.6B |
| Telenor (India) Communications Pvt. Ltd. | Telenor (India) Communications Pvt. Ltd. is a mobile network operator company. | Feb 23, 2017 | – |
| MENA Submarine Cable Systems | MENA Submarine Cable Systems is a carrier neutral cable operator. | Dec 22, 2016 | $100M |
| Augere | Augere is a wireless broadband business founded in 2007. | Dec 31, 2015 | – |
Airtel – Competitors
Top competitors in the competitive list of Airtel are:
- Reliance Jio
- Vodafone (Europe, Africa, India, Australia, New Zealand)
- Verizon Wireless (USA)
- AT&T Mobility
- Dialog Axiata Mobile Services
- Tigo
- TELUS Mobility
- TIM
- Grameenphone
Airtel – Challenges Faced
A code employed by the business was allegedly responsible for violating users’ privacy in June 2015.
Even though India’s global telecom sector is one of the fastest-growing in the world, the Indian telecom market is overheated with 14 contenders and overcapacity.
Additionally, the metro and other major cities have at least a 100% penetration rate, while rural India, which accounts for more than 60% of new subscribers, only has a 20% penetration rate.
Rural super-stockists and Rural Distributors were included in the two-tiered structure that Airtel planned to construct. Young business owners assigned regions around a few cell towers, and the rural distributors were in charge of bringing in new clients.
Consumers had a dread of technology, which added to the difficulties presented by distance in terms of service expectations. They refused to work with call centres. In rural India, Airtel established 25,000 Service Centers.
In order to address service requests in addition to selling new connections and recharges, a specialised retailer in the village was trained. The retailer got more trust, which improved walk-in business, while Airtel offered in-person support contacts. Each circle has a hotline or call centre that offered this real-time backup support.
Received concerns from consumers that their accounts were being established without their authorization, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) suspended Bharti Airtel and Airtel Payments Bank Limited’s licence for eKYC of Aadhar on December 16, 2017. In certain cases, LPG subsidies were even deposited into Airtel Payments Bank accounts.
Airtel – Future Plans
In order to meet the demands of India’s rapidly expanding digital economy, Bharti Airtel Limited (“Airtel”) launched a redesigned brand identity for its data centre business under the name “Nxtra by Airtel” and detailed investment plans. The largest network of data centres in India belongs to Nxtra by Airtel.
Currently, it administers crucial submarine landing sites and runs 10 big and 120 edge data centres spread strategically across India. It provides a safe and scalable integrated solution to global hyperscalers, major Indian corporations, startups, SMEs, and governments when combined with Airtel’s global network.
With the advent of 5G, a rapidly expanding digital economy, businesses moving to the cloud, and regional data storage laws, India is seeing a significant need for dependable data centre solutions. By 2023, the installed capacity of the Indian data centre market is anticipated to more than double, rising from around 450 MW to 1074 MW.
In order to further expand its network of hyperscale and edge data centres, which is already the best in the business, Nxtra by Airtel expects to invest Rs 5,000 crores by 2025. New data centre parks will be added in significant metro areas. To address the soaring demand and solidify its network leadership, the investment would increase Nxtra by Airtel’s installed capacity to over 400 MW.
Ajay Chitkara, Director and CEO, Airtel Business said “Airtel has built the largest data centre network in India and we are now doubling down on this business to scale up our network that will be at the core of 5G and Digital India. Our experience of operating secure data centres, deep brand trust in the enterprise segment and the ability to deliver end-to-end digital transformation solutions positions us well to serve the emerging requirements of India’s connected economy. The new brand identity embodies this vision and ambition.”
Given the enormous energy demands of data centres, sustainability will continue to be a top priority. As part of Airtel’s overall GHG emission reduction ambitions, Nxtra by Airtel is already aggressively increasing the usage of green energy for its data centres and seeks to source 50% of the power requirements of these centres from renewable sources.
Additionally, captive solar power plants owned by Nxtra by Airtel were recently put online in the states of Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, with more on the way.
As India’s top ICT service provider, Airtel Business, the B2B division of Airtel, offers a wide range of products and services in a variety of fields, including voice, data, collaboration, work-from-home solutions, cloud, data centres, cybersecurity, Internet of Things, network integration, managed services, enterprise mobility, and digital media.
FAQs
Who is the founder of Airtel?
Sunil Bharti Mittal is the founder of Airtel.
Where is the Airtel headquarters?
Airtel is headquartered in New Delhi, India.
What is the revenue of Airtel?
The revenue of Airtel is $15 billion as of 2022.
Who is the CEO of Airtel?
Gopal Vittal is the current CEO and MD of Airtel.
What is Airtel Payments Bank?
Airtel Payments Bank is a digital banking initiative from Airtel, which led the reputed telecommunications service provider to roll out a digital bank on January 12, 2017. The Airtel Payments Bank is currently billed as India’s first true digital bank and the largest bank for the underbanked.
