Airtel, world's third largest 'in-country' operator

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Bharti Airtel said that its subscriber base has crossed the 100 million mark, making it the world's third largest 'in-country' and sixth largest in-country integrated telecom operator in  the world.     

The milestone makes every fourth mobile phone user in the country a customer of Bharti Airtel, founded in 1995 as Bharti Tele-Ventures.     

Sunil Mittal, chairman, Bharti Airtel, said: "The Indian telecom sector is seen as providing the most affordable services in the world has grown by leaps and bounds in the last decade. We are proud to have led the telecom revolution that made a positive impact on the lives of people in every corner of the country as well as the Indian economy."

The company's equipment partners Ericsson and Nokia- Siemens and nearly 31 per cent equity partner Singtel were present on the occasion to mark the milestone.     

"This remarkable journey to 100 million customers is a testament to the vision and commitment of the company that benchmarks itself with the best in the world," Mittal said.     

Besides 25 per cent subscriber share, Bharti Airtel enjoys 30 per cent market share in terms of revenue. It's only behind two Chinese operators in terms of subscriber size measured within a country.     

Noting that it has been adding more than 3,000 base stations in a month, Mittal said for the first time, an Indian company has emerged a dominant player in the world and that too was in the telecom sector.

Announces a series of network augmentation and customer service initiatives 

•  To roll out over 100,000 BTS sites across the country

•  To establish a state-of-the-art customer service management centre.

•  100,000 Airtel service centres to be set up in rural India by March 2010 

The company is planning to transform its entire fixed line network to IP/Broadband over a phased manner. This transformation will enable Bharti Airtel’s transformation to Next Generation Networks, offering advanced services like High-speed internet, Triple Play, Media-rich VAS, MPLS, VPN for both Retail and Business customers.