Reliance Communications
Reliance Communications Ltd.
TypePublicNSE:RCOM BSE:532712
IndustryTelecommunications
Founded2004
Founder(s)Dhirubhai Ambani
HeadquartersNavi Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Area servedIndia
Key peopleHasit Shukla, (President)
ProductsFixed-line and mobile telephony, broadband and
fixed-line internet services, digital television, IT and network
services
Revenue$4.774 billion (2010)[1]
Net income$1.061 billion (2010)[1]
Total assets$20.559 billion (2010)[1]
Total equity$9.776 billion (2010)[1]
Employees28,065 (2010)[1]
ParentReliance Group
SubsidiariesReliance Globalcom LimitedReliance Big TV
Limited
Websitercom.co.in
Reliance Communications Ltd. (commonly called RCOM) is an Indian
broadband and telecommunications company headquartered in Navi
Mumbai, India. RCOM is the world's 16th largest mobile phone
operator with over 144 million subscribers. Established on 2004, a
subsidiary of the Reliance Group. The company has five segments:
Wireless segment includes wireless operations of the company;
broadband segment includes broadband operations of the company;
Global segment include national long distance and international
long distance operations of the company and the wholesale
operations of its subsidiaries; Investment segment includes
investment activities of the Group companies, and Other segment is
consists of the customer care activities and direct-to-home (DTH)
activities.BackgroundIt ranks among the top 5 telecommunications
companies. Retrieved 2010-04-14. in the world by number of
customers in a single country. Reliance Communications corporate
clientele includes 2,100 Indian and multinational corporations, and
over 800 global, regional and domestic carriers. The company has
established a pan-India, next-generation, integrated (wireless and
wireline), convergent (voice, data and video) digital network that
is capable of supporting services spanning the entire
communications value chain, covering over 24,000 towns and 600,000
villages. Reliance Communications owns and operates the
next-generation IP-enabled connectivity infrastructure,[2]
comprising over 190,000 kilometers of fiber optic cable systems in
India, USA, Europe, Middle East and the Asia Pacific
region.[citation needed]Main subsidiariesReliance Telecommunication
Limited (RTL)In July 2007, the company announced it was buying
US-based managed ethernet and application delivery services company
Yipes Enterprise Services for a cash amount of 1200 crore (the
equivalent of US$300 million). The deal was announced of the
overseas acquisition, the Reliance group has amalgamated the United
States-based Flag Telecom for $210 million (roughly 950 crore). RTL
operates in Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Orissa,
Bihar, Assam, Kolkata and Northeast, offering GSM
services.[3][citation needed]Reliance GlobalcomRGL owns the worlds
largest private undersea cable system,[4] spanning 65,000km
seamlessly integrated with Reliance Communications. Over 110,000km
of domestic optic fiber provides a robust Global Service Delivery
Platform, connecting 40 key business markets in India, the Middle
East, Asia, Europe, and the U.S.Reliance Internet Data Center
(RIDC)RIDC provides Internet Data Center (IDC) services located in
Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai. Spread across 650,000
sqft (60,000 m2) of hosting space, it offers IT infrastructure
management services to large, medium and small enterprises. It is
one of the leading data center service provider in India and
provides services like colocation, managed server hosting, virtual
private server and data security. It has launched cloud computing
services,[5] offering product under its infrastructure as a server
(Iaas) and software as a service (Saas) portfolio, which enables
enterprises, mainly small and medium, a cost-effective IT
infrastructure and application on pay-per-user model.Reliance
Digital TVReliance Big TV launched in August 2008[6] and thereafter
acquired 1 million subscribers within 90 days of launch,[7] the
fastest ramp-up ever achieved by any DTH operator in the world.
Reliance Big TV offers its 1.7 million customers DVD-quality
pictures on over 200 channels using MPEG-4 technology.Acquisition
FLAG Telecom Yipes ethernet service DigicableOfficesReliance
Communications Limited has its offices in Ahmedabad, Bangalore,
Chandigarh, Chennai, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kochi, Kolkata, Lucknow,
Patna and Pune.3G and 4GOn 19 May 2010, the 3G spectrum auction in
India ended. Reliance Communications paid 5864.29 crores for
spectrum in 13 circles. The circles it will provide 3G in are
Assam, Orissa, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir,
Kanpur, Kolkata, Madhya Pradesh, Mumbai, North East, Punjab,
Rajasthan and West Bengal.[8]On 11 June 2010, the broadband
wireless access (BWA) or 4G spectrum auction in India ended.
Infotel Broadband, a subsidary of Reliance Industries[9], won
pan-India licence in the auction across 22 circles, the only
telecom operator other than state-owned BSNL/MTNL to do so.[10].
Infotel paid the government 12847.77 crore for the
licence.According to Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI)
director general Rajan S. Mathews, Reliance Industries is expected
to launch 4G services in December 2011.[11] They are expected to
use LTE technology.TechnologyCurrently Reliance is only operator
who provides up to 28 Mbps speed in india with its 3G MIMO
technology.CompetitorsReliance Communications competes with 14
other mobile operators throughout India. They are Aircel, Airtel,
BSNL, Idea, Loop Mobile, MTNL, MTS, Ping Mobile, S Tel, Tata
DoCoMo, Tata Indicom, Uninor, Videocon, Virgin Mobile (GSM &
CDMA) and Vodafone.2G Spectrum Scam Arrests and ChargesheetsOn
February 2, 2011, the CBI arrested former Telecommunications Union
Minister A.Raja. The CBI also arrested R.K. Chandolia, Raja's
personal aide, and Siddharth Behura, the former Telecom
Secretary.[12][13] Both A.Raja and R.K Chandolia are heard in
conversation with Niira Radia in the released Radia tapes.On
February 8, 2011, the CBI arrested Mumbai based Dynamix Balwas (DB)
group managing director Shahid Usman Balwa in connection with the
2G spectrum allocation scam. The CBI has evidence from the Income
Tax department that Shahid Usman Balwa, considered close to A.
Raja, was instrumental in channelling the kickbacks allegedly
received by the former telecom minister.[14]On March 29, 2011, in
Delhi, the CBI arrested Asif Balwa (younger brother of the arrested
former Managing Director of DB-Etisalat Group, Shahid Balwa) and
Rajeev Agarwal for their alleged involvement in money transfer to
the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's (DMK) Kalaignar TV channel.[15]On
April 2, 2011, the CBI filed its first 80,000 page chargesheet in
the 2G spectrum scam before a Special Court in Delhi naming nine
individuals and three companies. It said the wrongful acts of the
accused deprived the government exchequer of possible revenues
amounting to INR Rs 30,985 crore (USD $ 6,983,322,233). The accused
include the following individualsAirtel,Idea and Reliance are the
three of the all cellular service providers in India. Airtel,being
cheap and having good coverage is used by most of the students.But
its coverage weakens in remote places unlike Idea,which provides
excellent coverage,but with little more cost as compared to Airtel
that is why it is being used by most of the employers and business
executives. Im using 2 cell phones,one having Airtel sim card and
the other one having Reliance(Gsm) prepaid sim card. Im using
Airtel since 20 months and has caused lots of problems in the time
period.They had sent me an offer that Ill get free job tips for 10
days and after that ill be charged Rs.30/month and if you want to
stop after that,please sms us on the desired number,but when I
messaged them,continuously it was coming message sending failed and
the tips started coming to me for nearly 2 months inspite of
complaining to them.Atlast I went to their main office in my city
and that time I got relief. This was one of the cases Ive
faced.Similar incident was of Hellotunes which was free for one
month and charges after that. The main thing is that they wont even
ask our consent whether we want to start the service or not?! I
think this is absolutely ridiculous and it is the bad way fetching
money from the customers. The other cell phone consisting of
Reliance(Gsm) prepaid sim card is the best Ill say as of now
because you get better coverage with cheap call rates and messaging
rates as compared to Airtel and Idea.If the bonus card of Airtel
costs Rs.45 with 2 months validity,the same bonus card will cost
Rs.21 with 3 months validity of Reliance(Gsm) i.e. half the value
of Airtel and with more validity. In Idea,youll get the sms pack of
350 sms with 1 month validity for Rs.75/- and for the sms pack of
500 sms ,Airtel will cost you Rs.76/- whereas Reliance(Gsm) will
cost you just Rs.32/- for 500 sms with 1 month validity. So,I
think,guys you should go for Reliance(Gsm) because of its excellent
coverage and absolutely cheap rates instead of using Airtel or
Idea.Bharti Airtel Bharti Airtel Limited
TypePublic companyBSE:532454 NSE:BHARTIARTL
IndustryTelecommunications
Founded7 July 1995(1995-07-07)
Founder(s)Sunil Bharti Mittal
HeadquartersNew Delhi, India
Area servedSouth Asia, Africa and the Channel Islands
Key peopleSunil Bharti Mittal(Chairman) and (MD)
ProductsFixed-line and mobile telephony, broadband and
fixed-line internet services, digital television, IPTV and network
services
Revenue$9.290billion (2010)[1]
Operating income$2.313billion (2010)[1]
Profit$2.079billion (2010)[1]
Total assets$15.527billion (2010)[1]
Total equity$9.491billion (2010)[1]
Employees22,858 (June 2011)[1]
ParentBharti Enterprises (63.45%)SingTel (32.15%)Vodafone
(4.4%)
SubsidiariesAirtel AfricaAirtel Digital TV
Websiteairtel.in
Bharti Airtel Limited (NSE:BHARTIARTL, BSE:532454), commonly
known as Airtel, is an Indian telecommunications company that
operates in 20 countries across South Asia, Africa and the Channel
Islands. It operates a GSM network in all countries, providing 2G
or 3G services depending upon the country of operation. Airtel is
the fifth largest telecom operator in the world with about
230.8million subscribers across 19 countries at the end of June
2011.[2] It is the largest cellular service provider in India, with
over 171.85million subscribers as of August 2011.[3] Airtel is the
3rd largest in-country mobile operator by subscriber base, behind
China Mobile and China Unicom.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 this Cisco
Gold Certification. To earn Gold Certification, Bharti Airtel had
to meet rigorous standards for networking competency, service,
support and customer satisfaction set forth by Cisco.[4] The
company also provides land-line telephone services and broadband
Internet access (DSL) in over 96 cities in India. 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.It is known for being the first mobile phone company in
the world to outsource everything except marketing and sales and
finance. Its network (base stations, microwave links, etc.) are
maintained by Ericsson, Nokia Siemens Network and Huawei,[5]
business support by IBM and transmission towers by another company
(Bharti Infratel Ltd. in India).[6] 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. This enabled the
company to provide pan-India phone call rates of Rs. 1/minute
(U$0.02/minute). Call rates have come down much further.[7] During
the last financial year [200910], Bharti has roped in a strategic
partner Alcatel-Lucent to manage the network infrastructure for the
Telemedia Business.[edit] HistorySunil Bharti Mittal founded the
Bharti Group. In 1983, Sunil Mittal was into an agreement with
Germany's Siemens to manufacture the company's push-button
telephone models for the Indian market. In 1986, Sunil Bharti
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. This first-mover
advantage allowed Sunil Mittal to expand his manufacturing capacity
elsewhere in the telecommunications market. By the early 1990s,
Sunil Mittal had also launched the country's first fax machines and
its first cordless telephones. In 1992, Sunil Mittal won a bid to
build a cellular phone network in Delhi. In 1995, Sunil 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.'2009, Airtel launched
its first international mobile network in Sri Lanka. In 2010,
Airtel began operating endToday, Airtel is the largest cellular
service provider in India and fifth largest in the world.[citation
needed][edit] Organisational StructureThe organisational structure
that existed till recently concentrated on the hierarchy of the
operations(not services)inside the company as a whole. The
structure depicts the corresponding operation/region of different
in-charges and hence it didn't hold anyone responsible for each of
its services. So, the company found it better to restructure its
organisational chart and it came into implementation from 1 August.
The transformed organisational structure will have two distinct
Customer Business Units (CBU) with clear focus on B2C (Business to
Customer) and B2B (Business to Business) segments. Bharti Airtel's
B2C business unit will comprehensively service the retail
consumers, homes and small offices, by combining the erstwhile
business units Mobile, Telemedia, Digital TV, and other emerging
businesses (like M-commerce, M-health, M-advertising etc.). The B2C
organization will consist of Consumer Business and Market
Operations.[edit] Worldwide presence
Coverage map of Bharti Airtel across 20 countriesAirtel is the
5th largest mobile operator in the world in terms of subscriber
base and has a commercial presence in 20 countries and the Channel
Islands.
Its area of operations include: The Indian Subcontinent: Airtel
Bangla, in Bangladesh Airtel, in India Airtel Sri Lanka, in Sri
Lanka Airtel Africa, which operates in 17 African countries:
Burkina Faso, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of
the Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria,
Rwanda, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. The
British Crown Dependency islands of Jersey and Guernsey, under the
brand name Airtel-Vodafone, through an agreement with
Vodafone.Airtel operates in the following
countries:CountrySiteRemarks
Bangladeshbd.airtel.comAirtel Bangladesh had about 5.1million
customers at the end of June 2011.[8]
Burkina Fasoafrica.airtel.com/burkinaAirtel Burkina Faso is the
dominant player with 1,433,000 customers representing 50% market
share.[9]
Chadafrica.airtel.com/chadAirtel Chad is the no. 1 operator with
69% market share.[9]
Democratic Republic of the Congoafrica.airtel.com/drcAirtel is
the market leader with almost 5 million customers at the end of
2010.
Gabonafrica.airtel.com/gabonAirtel Gabon has 829,000 customers
and its market share stood at 61%.[10]
Ghanaafrica.airtel.com/ghanaAirtel Ghana had about 1.76million
customers at the end of 2010.[11]
Indiaairtel.inAirtel is the market leader with almost
152.5million customers at the end of 2010.[11]
Kenyaafrica.airtel.com/kenyaAirtel Kenya is the second largest
operator and has 4 million customers.[12]
Madagascarafrica.airtel.com/madagascarAirtel holds second place
in the mobile telecom market in Madagascar, has a 39% market share
and over 1.4million customers.[9]
Malawiafrica.airtel.com/malawiAirtel Malawi is the market leader
with a market share of 72%.[9]
Nigerafrica.airtel.com/nigerAirtel Niger is the market leader
with a 68% market share.[9]
Nigeriang.airtel.com
Republic of the Congoafrica.airtel.com/congobAirtel Congo is the
market leader with a 55% market share.[9]
RwandaOn 8 September 2011, Airtel announced that it had been
awarded a licence by the Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Agency to
operate 2G and 3G GSM mobile services in Rwanda.[13]
Seychellesafrica.airtel.com/seychellesAirtel is the leading
comprehensive telecommunications services providers with over 55%
market share of mobile market in Seychelles.[14]
Sierra Leoneafrica.airtel.com/sierra
Sri Lankaairtel.lkAirtel Lanka commenced operations on 12
January 2009. It had about 1.8million mobile customers at the end
of 2010.[11]
Tanzaniaafrica.airtel.com/tanzaniaAirtel Tanzania is the market
leader with a 38% market share.[9]
Ugandaafrica.airtel.com/ugandaAirtel Uganda stands as the no. 2
operator with a market share of 38%.[9]
Zambiaafrica.airtel.com/zambia
Channel Islands: Jersey and Guernseyairtel-vodafone.jeAirtel
operates in the Channel Islands under the brand name
Airtel-Vodafone through an agreement with Vodafone.
Jersey and Guernsey are British Crown Dependencies. They are not
independent countries. Therefore, Airtel's countries of operation
is considered to be 19.[edit] India[edit] Mobileairtel has
nationwide presence and is the market leader with a market share of
almost completely(as of May 2010). It is 6th most valued brand
according to an annual survey conducted by Brand Finance and The
Economic Times in 2010.[15][16]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).The Apple iPhone 3G was rolled out in
India on 22 August 2008 by Airtel & Vodafone. Both the cellular
service providers rolled out their Apple iPhone 3GS in the first
quarter of 2010. However, high prices and contract bonds
discouraged consumers and it was not as successful for both the
service providers as much as the iPhone is successful in other
markets of the world. The Apple iPhone 4 was introduced on 27 May
2011 by Airtel & Aircel.[edit] 3GOn 18 May 2010, 3G spectrum
auction was completed and Airtel will have to pay the Indian
government 12,295 crore (US$2.49 billion) for spectrum in 13
circles, the most amount spent by an operator in this auction.
Airtel won 3G licences in 13 telecom circles of India: Delhi,
Mumbai, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh
(east), Rajasthan, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Assam,
North East, Jammu & Kashmir.[17] Airtel also operates 3G
services in Maharastra, Goa, Kanpur and Kolkata 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.On 20 September 2010, Bharti Airtel said that it has 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 will plan, design, deploy
and maintain 3G-HSPA (third generation, high speed packet access)
networks in 13 telecom circles where the company has won 3G
licences. While Bharti Airtel has awarded network contracts for
seven 3G circles to Ericsson India, NSN would manage networks in
three circles. Chinese telecom equipment vendor Huawei Technologies
has been introduced as the third partner for three circles.[18]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 Reliance Communications and Tata
Docomo.[19] On 27 January 2011, Airtel launched 3G in Chennai and
Coimbatore.On 27 July 2011 Airtel launched 3G in 3 Major Cities in
Kerala(Trivandrum,Cochin&Calicut) with 3G network sharing
agreement between idea.On 3 August 2011, Airtel launched 3G in
Maharashtra & Goa with 3G network sharing agreement between
idea.Airtel plans to cover 1,500 cities across 13 circles by the
end of March 2012. The company, which has 3G licences for 13
circles, is also in talks with other service providers to roll out
the services in the remaining 10 circles as part of its roaming
offerings.[20]Airtel had about 3million 3G subscribers as of May
2011.[21][edit] 4GOn 19 May 2010, the broadband wireless access
(BWA) or 4G spectrum auction in India ended. Airtel paid 3314.36
crores for spectrum in 4 circles. The circles it will provide 4G in
are Maharashtra, Karnataka, Punjab and Kolkata.[22]According to
Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) director general
Rajan S. Mathews, Airtel is expected to launch 4G services in first
qaurter of 2012.[23] They are expected to use LTE technology.[edit]
CriticismThere has been lot of criticism about Airtel for its
unauthorised VAS activation. Many of its services were activated
automatically according to a complaint forum. Several thousands of
users were falsely billed, for example downloading wallpaper or
ringtones. In return Airtel launched STOP/START 121 services for
such issues.[24][25] Alternatively, you can sign up on the "Do Not
Disturb" list to avoid all telemarketing calls and SMSes.[26][edit]
ControversyBharti Airtel(India) along with Loop Mobile, Idea
Cellular, Reliance Communications and Vodafone was issued notices
by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India(TRAI) for violation of
Mobile number portability(MNP) Regulations. According to TRAI, they
had received complains from customers regarding wrong rejection of
porting requests by telecom operators and also 10 been charged for
a message for requesting porting code through number
1900.[27][edit] TelemediaThe Telemedia business provides services
in 89 Indian cities and consists of two brands.[28]Airtel Broadband
provides broadband and IPTV services. Airtel provides both capped
as well as unlimited download plans [reduced speeds at unlimited
data are implied]. The maximum speed available for home users is
16Mbit/s.Airtel Fixed Line which provides fixed line
services.Airtel has about 3.16million wireline customers, of which
42.6% are broadband/internet subscribers as of August 2010.[29]
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".[edit] Digital TelevisionThe 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 has about 32.44million customers as of August 2010.[29][edit]
EnterpriseThe Enterprise business provides end-to-end telecom
solutions to corporate customers and national and international
long distance services to telcos through its nationwide fiber optic
backbone, last mile connectivity in fixed-line and mobile circles,
VSATs, ISP and international bandwidth access through the gateways
and landing stations. It has two sections under it.[edit] Mobile
data serviceThe 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.[edit] Enterprise business
solutionsThere 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.[edit] Android-based TabletBeetel Teletech Ltd., a
unit of Bharti Enterprises Ltd., on 18 August launched a 9,999
rupees ($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.[30] [edit]
Subscriber BaseBharti Airtel has about 230.8million subscribers
worldwide 169.18million in India, 46million are in Africa, 4million
in Bangladesh and 1.8million in Sri Lanka as of the end of June
2011. The numbers include mobile services subscribers in 19
countries and Indian Telemedia services and Digital services
subscribers.[33][edit] IndiaThe Airtel subscriber base according to
Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) Airtel is the market
leader in India with about 152,495,219 out of the total 745,000,000
subscribers in India or about 20.46% market share as of December
2010.[citation needed][edit] Acquisitions and Mergers[edit] MTNIn
May 2008, it emerged that Bharti Airtel was exploring the
possibility of buying the MTN Group, a South Africa-based
telecommunications company with coverage in 21 countries in Africa
and the Middle East. The Financial Times reported that Bharti was
considering offering US$45billion for a 100% stake in MTN, which
would be the largest overseas acquisition ever by an Indian firm.
However, both sides emphasize the tentative nature of the talks,
while The Economist magazine noted, "If anything, Bharti would be
marrying up," as MTN has more subscribers, higher revenues and
broader geographic coverage.[34] However, the talks fell apart as
MTN group tried to reverse the negotiations by making Bharti almost
a subsidiary of the new company.[35]In May 2009, Bharti Airtel
again confirmed that it is in Talks with MTN and companies have now
agreed discuss the potential transaction exclusively by 31 July
2009.[36] Bharti 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".[37]Talks eventually ended
without agreement, due to the South African government
opposition.[38][edit] ZainIn March 2010, Bharti struck a deal to
buy the Kuwait firm's mobile operations in 15 African countries, in
India's second biggest overseas acquisition after Tata Steel's
$13billion buy of Corus in 2007. Bharti Airtel completed its
$9billion acquisition of African operations from Kuwait's Zain,
making the firm the world's No. 5 wireless carrier by
subscribers.Airtel has reported that its revenues for the fourth
quarter of 2010 grew by 53% to US$3.2billion compared to the
previous year, newly acquired Zain Africa division contributed
US$911million to the total.However, net profits dropped by 41% from
US$470million last year to US$291million this year due to a
US$188million increase in radio spectrum charges in India and an
increase of US$106million in debt interest.[citation needed][edit]
Telecom SeychellesOn August 11, 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.[39] 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 2,000km undersea high speed link to Dar es Salaam in
Tanzania.[40][edit] Joint Ventures[edit] Airtel-EricssonAs per a
five-year managed services agreement signed recently[when?],
Ericsson will manage and optimize Airtels mobile networks in
Africa. Ericsson will modernize and upgrade Airtels mobile networks
in Africa with the latest technology including its multi standard
RBS 6000 base station.As part of the modernization, 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.[citation
needed][edit] RebrandingOn 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, Brand Union, the new
logo is the letter 'a' in lowercase, with 'airtel' written in
lowercase under the logo.[41]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.SponsorshipOn 9 May 2009 Airtel signed a
major deal with Manchester United Football Club. 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 Nokia is sponsoring Champions League Twenty20
cricket."[42]Airtel, also signed a deal to be title sponsor the
inaugural Formula One Indian Grand Prix during the 2011
season.[43]Signature tuneThe 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.[44] A new version of the song was released on 18
November 2010, as part of the rebranding of the company.[44][45]
This version too was composed by Rahman himself[45][edit] Green
initiative
[edit] GreenTowers P7 programAs of today,Bharti Infratel is the
only telecom tower company, which has installed almost 3 MWT of
solar capacity on their network, generating more than 5 mn 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
mn litres per year with a significant carbon dioxide reduction of
around 1.5 lac 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 Harvard Business School.[citation needed][edit] Energy
conservationThe 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 1025%.
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
8.5 lakh 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 tonnes of paper.Alternate
energy sources such as solar energyThey have already deployed these
at as many as 1050 sites thus saving 6.9 mn litres of diesel and
approximately Rs. 280 mn.Energy efficiency measures such as
Integrated Power Management Systems and variable speed DC
generatorsIt has resulted in the reduction in the rate of diesel
consumption by 1.2 mn litres. They have already saved Rs. 47 mn
across nearly 900 sites.Demand side management like Free Cooling
Units (FCU) instead of air conditionersIt has already been
implemented across 3400+ sites, saving consumption of 4.1 mn litres
of diesel.[edit] Timeline
Logo used by Airtel till 2010 NovemberThe chronology of events
since Bharti Tele-Ventures was incorporated in 1995:[46]1995 Bharti
Cellular launched cellular services as "AirTel" in Delhi.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 Rs. 12,295 crores.[17] Bharti Airtel wins
broadband spectrum in four circles: Maharashtra, Karnataka, Punjab
and Kolkata for Rs. 3314.36 crores.[22] On 18 November 2010, Bharti
Airtel announced a re-branding campaign wherein, they would be
referred as airtel, with a new logo.[47] On 20 December 2010,
Airtel launched its new identity for Bangladesh subscribers.[48] On
23 December 2010, Airtel opened its first underground terrestrial
fibre optic cable built in alliance with China Telecom.[49]