CHAPTER-III

INDUSTRY PROFILE
&
COMPANY PROFILE

History
Telecom in the real sense means transfer of information between two distant points
in space. The popular meaning of telecom always involves electrical signals and
nowadays people exclude postal or any other raw telecommunication methods from
its meaning. Therefore, the history of Indian telecom can be started with the
introduction of telegraph.
Introduction of telegraph
The postal and telecom sectors had a slow and uneasy start in India. In 1850, the
first experimental electric telegraph Line was started between Kolkata and Diamond
Harbor. In 1851, it was opened for the British East India Company. The Posts and
Telegraphs department occupied a small corner of the Public Works Department, at
that time. Construction of 4,000 miles (6,400 km) of telegraph lines connecting
Kolkata (Calcutta) and Peshawar in the north along with Agra, Mumbai (Bombay)
through Sindwa Ghats, and Chennai in the south, as well as Ootacamund and
Bangalore was started in November 1853. Dr. William O'Shaughnessy, who
pioneered telegraph and telephone in India, belonged to the Public Works
Department. He tried his level best for the development of telecom throughout this
period. A separate department was opened in 1854 when telegraph facilities were
opened to the public.
Introduction of the telephone
In 1880, two telephone companies namely The Oriental Telephone Company Ltd.
and The Anglo-Indian Telephone Company Ltd. approached the Government of India
to establish telephone exchanges in India. The permission was refused on the
grounds that the establishment of telephones was a Government monopoly and that
the Government itself would undertake the work. By 1881, the Government
changed its earlier decision and a licence was granted to the Oriental Telephone
Company Limited of England for opening telephone exchanges at Kolkata, Mumbai,
Chennai (Madras) and Ahmedabad. 28 January 1882, is a Red Letter Day in the

history of telephone in India. On this day Major E. Baring, Member of the Governor
General of India's Council declared open the Telephone Exchange in Kolkata,
Chennai and Mumbai. The exchange at Kolkata named "Central Exchange" was
opened at third floor of the building at 7, Council House Street. The Central
Telephone Exchange had 93 number of subscribers. Bombay also witnessed the
opening of Telephone Exchange in 1882.
Further developments

1902 - First wireless telegraph station established between Saugor Islands

and Sandheads.

1907 - First Central Battery of telephones introduced in Kanpur.

1913-1914 - First Automatic Exchange installed in Shimla.

23 July 1927 - Radio-telegraph system between the UK and India, with beam

stations at Khadki and Daund, inaugurated by Lord Irwin by exchanging greetings

with the King of England.

1933 - Radiotelephone system inaugurated between the UK and India.

1953 - 12 channel carrier system introduced.

1960 - First subscriber trunk dialing route commissioned between Kanpur and

Lucknow.

1975 - First PCM system commissioned between Mumbai City and Andheri

telephone exchanges.

1976 - First digital microwave junction introduced.

1979 - First optical fibre system for local junction commissioned at Pune.

1980 - First satellite earth station for domestic communications established at

Secunderabad, A.P..

1983 - First analog Stored Program Control exchange for trunk lines

commissioned at Mumbai.

1984 - C-DOT established for indigenous development and production of

digital exchanges.

1985 - First mobile telephone service started on non-commercial basis in

Delhi.
While all the major cities and towns in the country were linked with telephones
during the British period, the total number of telephones in 1948 was only around
80,000. Even after independence, growth was extremely slow. The telephone was a
status symbol rather than being an instrument of utility. The number of telephones
grew leisurely to 980,000 in 1971, 2.15 million in 1981 and 5.07 million in 1991, the
year economic reforms were initiated in the country.
While certain innovative steps were taken from time to time, as for example
introduction of the telex service in Mumbai in 1953 and commissioning of the first
[subscriber trunk dialing] route between Delhi and Kanpur in 1960, the first waves
of change were set going by Sam Pitroda in the eighties. He brought in a whiff of
fresh air. The real transformation in scenario came with the announcement of the
National Telecom Policy in 1994.
Emergence as a major player
In 1975, the Department of Telecom (DoT) was separated from P&T. DoT was
responsible for telecom services in entire country until 1985 when Mahanagar
Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) was carved out of DoT to run the telecom services
of Delhi and Mumbai. In 1990s the telecom sector was opened up by the
Government for private investment as a part of Liberalisation-PrivatizationGlobalization policy. Therefore, it became necessary to separate the Government's
policy wing from its operations wing. The Government of India corporatised the
operations wing of DoT on 1 October 2000 and named it as Bharat Sanchar Nigam
Limited (BSNL). Many private operators, such as Reliance Communications, Tata

Indicom, Vodafone, Loop Mobile, Airtel, Idea etc., successfully entered the high
potential Indian telecom market.
Telephone
On landlines, intra circle calls are considered local calls while inter circle are
considered long distance calls. Currently Government is working to integrate the
whole country in one telecom circle. For long distance calls, you dial the area code
prefixed with a zero (e.g. For calling Delhi, you would dial 011-XXXX XXXX). For
international calls, you would dial "00" and the country code+area code+number.
The country code for India is 91.
Until recently, only the PSU's BSNL and MTNL were allowed to provide Basic Phone
Service through copper wires in India. MTNL is operating in Delhi and Mumbai only
and all other parts are covered by BSNL. However private operators have now
entered the fray, although their focus is largely on the cellular business which is
growing rapidly.

Telephony Subscribers (Wireless and Landline): 562.21 million (Dec 2009)

Projected teledensity: 893 million, 64.69% of population by 2012.
Wireless telephones
The Mobile telecommunications system in India is the second largest in the world
and it was thrown open to private players in the 1990s. The country is divided into
multiple zones, called circles (roughly along state boundaries). Government and
several private players run local and long distance telephone services. Competition
has caused prices to drop and calls across India are one of the cheapest in the
world. The rates are supposed to go down further with new measures to be taken by
the Information Ministry. The mobile service has seen phenomenal growth since
2000. In September 2004, the number of mobile phone connections have crossed
fixed-line connections. India primarily follows the GSM mobile system, in the
900 MHz band. Recent operators also operate in the 1800 MHz band. The dominant

players are Airtel, Reliance Infocomm, Vodafone, Idea cellular and BSNL/MTNL.
There are many smaller players, with operations in only a few states. International
roaming agreements exist between most operators and many foreign carriers. The
breakup of wireless subscriber base in India as of December 2009 is given below
Operator

Subscriber base

Bharti Airtel

118,864,031

Reliance Communications

93,795,613

Vodafone Essar

91,401,959

BSNL

62,861,214

Idea Cellular

57,611,872

Tata Teleservices

57,329,449

Aircel

31,023,997

MTNL

4,875,913

MTS India

3,042,741

Loop Mobile India

2,649,730

Uninor

1,208,130

All India

525,147,922

The list of ten states (including the metros Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai in their
respective states) with largest subscriber base as of September 2009 is given below
State

Subscriber base

Wireless density'"

Maharashtra

58,789,949

51.96

Uttar Pradesh

57,033,513

26.32

Tamil Nadu

45,449,460

63.66

Andhra Pradesh

37,126,048

42.58

West Bengal

32,540,049

34.28

Karnataka

28,867,734

46.76

Rajasthan

27,742,395

39.09

Gujarat

27,475,585

45.49

Bihar

27,434,896

25.04

Madhya Pradesh

24,923,739

33.09

All India

471,726,205

37.71

Wireless density was calculated using projected population of states from the
natural growth rates of 1991-2001 and population of 2001 census.
Landlines
Landline service in India is primarily run by BSNL/MTNL and Reliance Infocomm
though there are several other private players too, such as Touchtel and Tata
Teleservices. Landlines are facing stiff competition from mobile telephones. The
competition has forced the landline services to become more efficient. The landline
network quality has improved and landline connections are now usually available on
demand, even in high density urban areas. The breakup of wire line subscriber base
in India as of September 2009 is given below
Operator

Subscriber base

BSNL

28,446,969

MTNL

3,514,454

Bharti Airtel

2,928,254

Reliance Communications

1,152,237

Tata Teleservices

1,003,261

All India

37,306,334

The list of eight states with largest subscriber base as of September 2009 is
State

Subscriber base

Maharashtra

5,996,912

Tamil Nadu

3,620,729

Kerala

3,534,211

Uttar Pradesh

2,803,049

Karnataka

2,751,296

Delhi

2,632,225

West Bengal

2,490,253

Andhra Pradesh

2,477,755

COMPANY PROFILE

bharti airtel limited is a leading global telecommunications company with

operations in 19 countries across Asia and Africa. The company offers mobile voice
& data services, fixed line, high speed broadband, IPTV, DTH, turnkey telecom
solutions for enterprises and national & international long distance services to
carriers. bharti airtel has been ranked among the six best performing technology
companies in the world by business week. bharti airtel had 200 million customers
across its operations.
Highlights 2012
Bharti Airtel appoints Suren Goonewardene as CEO Sri Lanka
Bharti Airtel to Observe Silent period from December 31, 2011
Airtel Mobitude 2011 reveals data traffic trends on mobile devices in India
Friends on Airtel can now use Gifting Services and Call Me Back SMS alerts
Bharti Airtel recognized for the delivery of best network services with customer
focus at Telecom Centre of Excellence Awards 2011
Airtel Mobitude 2011 captures preferences of over 170 million plus mobile users

Highlights 2011
airtel makes its 3G debut
airtel digital TV brings in a la carte offerings for its customers

bharti airtel to announce its results for third quarter ended December 31, 2010
on Feb 2, 2011 (Wednesday)
bharti airtel to announce its results for third quarter ended December 31, 2010
on Feb 2, 2011 (Wednesday)
SBI and airtel join hands to usher in a new era of financial inclusion for
unbanked India
bharti airtel to observe silent period from december 31, 2010

Airtel comes to you from Bharti Airtel Limited, one of Asias leading integrated
telecom services providers with operations in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
Bharti Airtel since its inception has been at the forefront of technology and has
pioneered several innovations in the telecom sector.
The company is structured into four strategic business units - Mobile, Telemedia,
Enterprise and Digital TV. The mobile business offers services in India, Sri Lanka and
Bangladesh. The Telemedia business provides broadband, IPTV and telephone
services in 95 Indian cities. The Digital TV business provides Direct-to-Home TV
services across India. The Enterprise business provides end-to-end telecom
solutions to corporate customers and national and international long distance
services to telcos.
Airtel was born free, a force unleashed into the market with a relentless and
unwavering determination to succeed. A spirit charged with energy, creativity and a
team driven to seize the day with an ambition to become the most globally
admired telecom service. Airtel, in just ten years of operations, rose to the pinnacle
to achievement and continues to lead.
As India's leading telecommunications company Airtel brand has played the role as
a major catalyst in India's reforms, contributing to its economic resurgence.
Today we touch peoples lives with our Mobile services, Telemedia services, to

connecting India's leading 1000+ corporate. We also connect Indians living in USA,
UK and Canada with our call home service.
Our Vision & promise
By 2010 Airtel will be the most admired brand in India:
Loved by more customers
Targeted by top talent
Benchmarked by more businesses
We at Airtel always think in fresh and innovative ways about the needs of our
customers and how we want them to feel. We deliver what we promise and go out
of our way to delight the customer with a little bit more

Airtel comes to you from Bharti Airtel Limited, one of Asias leading integrated
telecom services providers with operations in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
Bharti Airtel since its inception, has been at the forefront of technology and has
pioneered several innovations in the telecom sector.
The company is structured into four strategic business units - Mobile, Telemedia,
Enterprise and Digital TV. The mobile business offers services in India, Sri Lanka and
Bangladesh. The Telemedia business provides broadband, IPTV and telephone
services in 95 Indian cities. The Digital TV business provides Direct-to-Home TV
services across India. The Enterprise business provides end-to-end telecom
solutions to corporate customers and national and international long distance
services to telcos.
Highlights

Bharti Airtel and Apple to Bring iPhone 3GS to India

Indias first mobile application store Airtel App Central - clocks over 2.5 million

downloads in just 30 days

Dow Jones and Bharti Airtel Partner for Launch of The Wall Street Journal India
Mobile

Airtel Broadband - official Broadband Sponsor of Cricket on YouTube

Bharti Airtel makes its Media & Entertainment debut launches Digital Media
Business

Bharti Airtel Completes Deployment of the Bangalore Traffic Police Enforcement

Automation System on BlackBerry Smartphones

We are one of Asias leading providers of telecommunication services with presence

in all the 22 licensed jurisdictions (also known as Telecom Circles) in India, and in
Srilanka. We served an aggregate of 113,439,670 customers as of September 30,
2009; of whom 110,511,416 subscribe to our GSM services and 2,928,254 use our
Telemedia Services either for voice and/or broadband access delivered through DSL.
We are the largest wireless service provider in the country, based on the number of
customers as of September 30, 2009. We offer an integrated suite of telecom
solutions to our enterprise customers, in addition to providing long distance
connectivity both nationally and internationally. We also offer DTH and IPTV
Services. All these services are rendered under a unified brand Airtel.
The company also deploys, owns and manages passive infrastructure pertaining to
telecom operations under its subsidiary Bharti Infratel Limited. Bharti Infratel owns
42% of Indus Towers Limited. Bharti Infratel and Indus Towers are the two top
providers of passive infrastructure services in India.

Partners

Network Equipment

Nokia Siemens, Ericsson, Huawei

Telemedia & Long

Nokia Siemens, Wipro, Cisco, Alcatel

Distance Services

Lucent, ECI, Tellabs

Network
Equipment

Information Technology

IBM
IBM Daksh, Hinduja TMT,

Call Centre Operations

Teleperformance,
Mphasis, Firstsource & Aegis

Equity Partner {Strategic}

Singtel

Factsheet At-a-glance guide to Bharti Airtel

Organization Structure Organisation chart depicting the Senior

Management positions

Shareholding Structure Details on the latest shareholding structure and

major shareholders.

Awards & Recognitions Laurels recognising Bharti's consistent efforts.

Bharti Airtel and Apple to Bring iPhone 3GS to India

Indias first mobile application store Airtel App Central - clocks over 2.5
million downloads in just 30 days

Dow Jones and Bharti Airtel Partner for Launch of The Wall Street Journal India
Mobile

Airtel Broadband - official Broadband Sponsor of Cricket on YouTube

Bharti Airtel makes its Media & Entertainment debut launches Digital Media

Business

Bharti Airtel Completes Deployment of the Bangalore Traffic Police

Enforcement Automation System on BlackBerry Smartphones
Factsheet

Name

Bharti Airtel Limited.

Business

Provides GSM mobile services in all the 22 telecom circles in

Description

India, and was the first private operator to have an all India
presence.
Provides telemedia services (fixed line and broadband services
through DSL) in 95 cities in India.

Established

July 07, 1995, as a Public Limited Company

Proportionate

Rs. 369,615 million (year ended March 31, 2009-Audited)

Revenue

Rs. 113,715 million (year ended March 31, 2008 - Audited)

As per US GAAP Accounts

Proportionate

Rs. 151,678 million (year ended March 31, 2009 - Audited)

EBITDA

Rs. 113,715 million (year ended March 31, 2008 - Audited)

As per US GAAP Accounts

Shares in

3,796,951,980 as at Dec 31, 2009

Issue

Listings

The Stock Exchange, Mumbai (BSE)

The National Stock Exchange of India Limited (NSE)

Market
Capitalisation

Customer

118,864,031 GSM mobile and 2,988,545 Telemedia Customers

Base

(status as on Dec 31, 2009)

Operational

Provides GSM mobile services in all the 22 telecom circles in

Network

India, and was the first private operator to have an all India
presence.
Provides telemedia services (fixed line) in 95 cities in India.

Registered
Office

Bharti Airtel Limited

(A Bharti Enterprise)
Bharti Crescent, 1 Nelson Mandela Road, Vasant Kunj Phase II
New Delhi - 110 070
Tel. No.: +91 11 4666 6100
Fax No.: +91 11 4666 6411

Organization Structure
As an outcome of a restructuring exercise conducted within the company; a new
integrated organizational structure has emerged; with realigned roles,
responsibilities and reporting relationships of Bhartis key team players. With effect
from March 01, 2006, this unified management structure of 'One Airtel' will enable
continued improvement in the delivery of the Groups strategic vision.

Bharti Airtel - Organization Structure

Management Profiles
Sunil Bharti Mittal

Manoj Kohli

Sanjay Kapoor

David Nishball

Atul Bindal

K Srinivas

Jyoti Pawar

Shamini Ramalingam

Joachim Horn

S. Asokan

Krishnamurthy Shankar

Srikanth Balachander

Sunil Bharti Mittal is the Founder, Chairman and Group CEO of Bharti Enterprises,
one of Indias leading business groups with interests in telecom, financial services,
retail, realty, manufacturing and agriculture.
Sunil started his career at 18 after graduating from Punjab University in India in
1976 and founded Bharti. Today, at 52, he heads a successful enterprise which
employs over 30,000 people. Bharti Airtel, the flagship group company, has a
market capitalization of approximately US$ 25 billion.
Sunil has been recognized with the Padma Bhushan, one of Indias highest civilian
awards. He has also received the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Award for Excellence
in Public Administration, Academics and Management for 2009. He is a past
President of the Confederation of Indian Industry, the premier industry body in India
(2007-08).

Sunil has been awarded numerous awards and recognitions including the Global
Economy Prize 2009 by The Kiel Institute, Germany. The US-India Business Council
has also honored him with the Global Vision Award 2008. He has received the GSM
Association Chairman's Award for 2008.
Sunil was Co-chairman of the World Economic Forum in 2007 at Davos and is a
member of its International Business Council. He is a member of the Leadership
Council of The Climate Group. He is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He is a member of several premier

international bodies International Advisory Committee to the NYSE Euronext Board
of Directors, the International Business Advisory Council of London and the Advisory
Board of the Global Economic Symposium. Sunil is also on the Telecom Board of the
International Telecommunication Union, the leading UN Agency for Information and
Communication Technology. He is also a member of the Indo-US CEOs Forum.
He serves as a member of the Executive Board of the Indian School of Business. He
is also a member of the Academy of Distinguished Entrepreneurs, Babson College,
Wellesley, Massachusetts.
Sunil believes a responsible corporate has a duty to give back to the community in
which it operates. This belief has resulted in Bharti Foundation, which is committed
to providing education to under-privileged children in rural India.
Sunil has been conferred with the degree of Doctor of Laws (Honoris Causa) by the
University of Leeds, UK and the degree of Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa) by the
Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture & Technology. He is an alumnus of
Harvard Business School, USA. He is an Honorary Fellow of The Institution of
Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers.

AWARDS:
for the year 2010 - 2011
airtel has won the Most Preferred Cellular Service Provider
Brand award at the CNBC Awaaz Consumer Awards in Mumbai.
This is 6th year in a row that airtel has won the award in this
category. This year, the awards were based on an exhaustive
consumer survey done by The Nielsen Company. Over 3,000
consumers, spanning 19 cities and 16 states in India, rated
brands across different categories to choose brands which

delivered true value for money.

bharti airtel has received the prestigious BusinessworldFICCI-SEDF Corporate Social Responsibility Awards 20092010. The FICCI Socio Economic Development Foundation
(FICCI-SEDF) and Businessworld CSR award was instituted in
1999 to recognize exemplary responsible business practices by
the Indian Industry.

Tariffs Plans NEW

airtel Turbo Plan 2

(airtel/AP/GSM/04)

airtel Turbo Plan

1(airtel/AP/GSM/02)

New Advantage
Plan
(airtel/AP/GSM/01)

SUK

MNP

HFZ

35(airtel/AP/GSM/14

25(airtel/AP/GSM/03

Pack(airtel/AP/GSM/

15)

Airtel Turbo Plan 2 (airtel/AP/GSM/04)

Expand All Collapse All

ONE TIME CHARGES

Pulse Rate

1 sec pulse

Price of Pack (Rs.)

43

Free Airtime on Pack (Rs.)

Incoming Calls (Rs.)

CALL CHARGES

Local
Rates

STD Rates

Airtel

GSM/CDMA

Landline

1.2 p/sec

1.2 p/sc

1.5p/sec

1.2 p/sec

1.2 p/sec

1.5 p/sec

SMS
Local

National

1.5

International

OTHER DETAILS

Special 1 sec Roaming tariff is as following. Validity is for 1 year.

Local Outgoing (Local airtel to airtel) Rs. 0.60 min
Local Outgoing (Local airtel to Other Mobile & Landline) 0.80 / min
STD Outgoing (STD airtel to airtel) Rs. 0.60 / min
STD Outgoing (STD airtel to other Mobile & Landline) 0.80 / min
Incoming Rs. 0.60 / min
ISD Rs. Standard Rates at 60 sec pulse

Ombudsman Office Head Arrow

Corporate Governance
Bharti Enterprises Limited (including its group and Joint Venture companies) firmly
believes in the principles of Corporate Governance and is committed to ensure
sustainable, capital-efficient and long-term growth thereby maximizing shareholder
value. The companys commitment towards compliance to the highest governance
standard is backed by an independent and fully informed board, comprehensive
processes, policies and communication. The Company ensures that various
disclosure requirements are complied in letter and spirit for effective Corporate
Governance.
We adhere to the highest levels of ethical business practices as articulated by our
Code of Conduct so as to achieve our performance with integrity.
Office of the Ombudsperson
The Office of the Ombudsperson is an independent forum for employees and
external stakeholders of the company to raise concerns and complaints about
improper practices which are in breach of the Bharti Code of Conduct.
Any stakeholder (employee, associate, strategic partner, vendor) who observes
unprofessional behaviour can approach the Ombudsperson to voice his or her
concerns. The complainant may be either an observer who is not directly impacted,
or a victim who is directly or indirectly affected by such practices.
The Office aims to provide a fair and equitable redressal mechanism. The process is
designed to offer protection to the complainant provided the disclosure is made in
good faith and the alleged action constitutes a genuine and serious breach of Bharti
Code of Conduct. The Ombudsperson will treat all disclosures in a confidential and
sensitive manner.
A person can raise a concern, either verbally or in writing by giving background of
the unprofessional conduct, reasons for raising the concern, the identity of the
individuals who may be involved and documentary evidence, wherever available.
1) In writing (through hard copy mail) to:

The Ombudsperson
Bharti Enterprises Ltd.
Bharti Crescent
1, Nelson Mandela Road
Vasant Kunj, Phase II
New Delhi 110 070, India.