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Tag: Bharti

  • Global broadband subs hit 1.52 billion as fibre dominates

    Global broadband subs hit 1.52 billion as fibre dominates

    MUMBAI: Global broadband subscribers surged past 1.52 billion in the first quarter of 2025, marking a 1.21 per cent quarterly rise as South and East Asia drove expansion, according to Point Topic data. Yet the picture remains patchy, with 22 countries—up from 14 in the previous quarter—seeing subscriber numbers fall as consumers shift to mobile broadband or grapple with economic headwinds and market saturation.

    India topped the largest 20 fixed broadband markets with a blistering 4.7 per cent quarterly growth rate, whilst Britain stood out as an outlier, suffering a 0.3 per cent decline as fibre rollout failed to offset broader connection losses.

    Fibre-to-the-home and building connections now command 72.34 per cent of global fixed broadband subscriptions, cementing the technology’s dominance. Other fixed technologies saw their market shares shrink, bar satellite and fixed wireless access, which bucked the trend with spectacular annual growth of 47.4 per cent and 29.9 per cent respectively.

    The satellite boom was largely driven by Starlink breaching the 5 million customer mark, though growth has slowed due to capacity constraints and pricing pressures. Competition is set to intensify as Amazon’s Project Kuiper prepares for launch by year-end, with Britain expected among the first markets to go live following Ofcom approvals. Residential plans currently start at around £75 monthly.

    Fixed wireless access is reshaping rural connectivity, particularly in America and India, with aggressive investments from Reliance, Bharti, T-Mobile, Verizon and AT&T driving adoption.

    Industry consolidation is accelerating, with potential mega-deals including Charter’s merger with Cox in America and a possible carve-up of France’s SFR among Orange, Bouygues and Iliad. Meanwhile, sub-Saharan Africa represents untapped potential, attracting significant infrastructure investment targeting broadband expansion.

  • Bharti Enterprises completes 24.5 per cent stake acquisition in UK’s BT group

    Bharti Enterprises completes 24.5 per cent stake acquisition in UK’s BT group

    MUMBAI: Bharti Airtel’s  Sunil Mittal has planted his company’s flag on the Britain’s biggest broadband and mobile company, the BT group. Earlier this week, Bharti Global, the international investment arm of Bharti Enterprises, completed the acquisition of a 24.5 per cent stake in BT from businessman Patrick Drahi. The stake was sold via Altice UK in two parts, the second of which is now completed.

    Mittal had announced in August 2024 that he would be buying a 9.9 per cent stake immediately, and would buy the remainder later after his group gets the necessary regulatory approvals. The purchase of the remainder shareholding makes Bharti Enterprises the single largest shareholder in BT group. The entire transaction cost Bharti 4.32 billion Euros. 

    In a statement Mittal said he was delighted to have “completed our investment into BT. Bharti has long recognised the enormous potential of the business. BT’s renewed focus on optimisation, strengthening networks and driving consumer growth makes it well placed to consolidate its position as a leading global telecom company that delivers long-term value for investors.”

  • Bharti Airtel to get new CEO in Shashwat Sharma come 2026

    Bharti Airtel to get new CEO in Shashwat Sharma come 2026

    MUMBAI: He’s been rated as one of the top Indian CEOs. But now Bharti Airtel’s managing director & CEO Gopal Vittal, along with Sunil Mittal, has put in place a plan wherein he will move out of his current position to executive chairman come 1 January 2026. Replacing him will be chief operations officer Shashwat Sharma who will step into his shoes.

    For now, Shashwat  is being appointed as CEO designate, responsible for the entire end-to-end consumer business.

    In the interim, the telco major has promoted Gopal to vice-chairman along with his existing duties as managing director.  In this role, while continuing to lead the India business, Gopal  will take on broader telecom responsibilities across the group. He is to be appointed to the board of Airtel Africa  as the Bharti nominee director to provide strategic guidance. In addition, he will be responsible for driving group synergies in select areas such as network strategy, digital and  technology, procurement and talent.

    Gopal will be responsible for mentoring and grooming Shashwat to take over as MD & CEO of Bharti Airtel. He will start to spend time between Delhi and Bangalore.

    The company announced changes at the board level too on 28 October. Rakesh Bharti Mittal, having served Airtel for nine years in his current term, will move on to the boards of Indus Towers and Bharti Hexacom. Replacing him is Rajan Bharti Mittal who returns to Airtel to be the Bharti board nominee.

  • Bharti Land appoints Cherryn Dogra as the chief marketing officer

    Bharti Land appoints Cherryn Dogra as the chief marketing officer

    Mumbai: Cherryn Dogra joined Bharti Land on Wednesday as chief marketing officer. She will be leading the marketing function with Bharti Land for the upcoming commercial projects in NCR.

    She brings on board seventeen years of experience in identifying customer needs, customising product offerings (alcobev and real estate alike) and exponentially taking the customer lifetime value up for both multinational and indigenous organisations with innovative marketing strategies.

    She recently moved on from Emaar India, where she was heading the marketing function and was a part of the India leadership team. Prior to Emaar India, she was with DLF.

    Cherryn has been driving the marketing strategy for years. She has worked in the alcohol industry with UB, William Grant India, and Pernod. In her previous stints, she had worked in individual contributor roles as well as managed large teams, which gives her the dual advantage of having championed ownership and mentorship in both.

  • Jio registers Airtel’s support, inadequate measures

    Jio registers Airtel’s support, inadequate measures

    MUMBAI: Reliance Jio, in a press release, has hailed Airtel’s decision to provide more points of interconnection but laments failing of calls between the two networks and alleged blockage of network portability.

    Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (RJIL) has welcomed the decision of Bharti Airtel Limited (Airtel) of providing more points of interconnection (POI) to it, as was communicated in the bilateral discussions. However, the quantum of POIs proposed to be released by Airtel is substantially less than the estimated requirement.

    More than two crore calls are failing everyday between the two networks, which is far in excess of QoS parameters. It is unfortunate that TRAI’s intervention was required for Airtel to resume augmentation of POIs.

    Airtel has also insisted on certain unilateral deviations from the Interconnection Agreement with respect to installation of one-way E1s as against both-way E1s. Airtel allegedly continues to abuse its market dominance by imposing onerous conditions which will imminently hinder RJIL’s ability to efficiently utilize the additional E1s.

    Airtel has also been allegedly blocking the mobile number portability
    (“MNP”) facility for its subscribers who wish to subscribe to Jio services on baseless and unsubstantiated grounds, the release stated.

    RJIL hopes that Airtel will enhance the PoI’s sufficiently to meet its license obligation of QoS. Airtel must also immediately make available MNP to all its subscribers opting to port to RJIL.

    Reliance Jio Infocomm has built a world-class all-IP data strong future proof network with latest 4G LTE technology. It is the only network born as a Mobile Video Network from the ground up and supporting voice over LTE technology.

  • Jio registers Airtel’s support, inadequate measures

    Jio registers Airtel’s support, inadequate measures

    MUMBAI: Reliance Jio, in a press release, has hailed Airtel’s decision to provide more points of interconnection but laments failing of calls between the two networks and alleged blockage of network portability.

    Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (RJIL) has welcomed the decision of Bharti Airtel Limited (Airtel) of providing more points of interconnection (POI) to it, as was communicated in the bilateral discussions. However, the quantum of POIs proposed to be released by Airtel is substantially less than the estimated requirement.

    More than two crore calls are failing everyday between the two networks, which is far in excess of QoS parameters. It is unfortunate that TRAI’s intervention was required for Airtel to resume augmentation of POIs.

    Airtel has also insisted on certain unilateral deviations from the Interconnection Agreement with respect to installation of one-way E1s as against both-way E1s. Airtel allegedly continues to abuse its market dominance by imposing onerous conditions which will imminently hinder RJIL’s ability to efficiently utilize the additional E1s.

    Airtel has also been allegedly blocking the mobile number portability
    (“MNP”) facility for its subscribers who wish to subscribe to Jio services on baseless and unsubstantiated grounds, the release stated.

    RJIL hopes that Airtel will enhance the PoI’s sufficiently to meet its license obligation of QoS. Airtel must also immediately make available MNP to all its subscribers opting to port to RJIL.

    Reliance Jio Infocomm has built a world-class all-IP data strong future proof network with latest 4G LTE technology. It is the only network born as a Mobile Video Network from the ground up and supporting voice over LTE technology.

  • Life OK to take ‘Comedy Classes’

    Life OK to take ‘Comedy Classes’

    MUMBAI: With high ambitions and the passion to reach the top, Life OK EVP and general manager Ajit Thakur, plans to achieve it all sans the sure-to-succeed saas-bahu soaps. “Though Life OK is not the staple diet of viewers, but whenever they want something different, they are most welcome,” he says.

     

    After exploring crime, thriller, domestic violence through its shows, the channel is ready to tap the genre, which Thakur believes is not much explored in India – comedy. 

     

    Christened ‘Comedy Classes’, it promises to add a smile on the face of its viewers by taking them back to the classroom. Produced by Optimystix, the new show is a sitcom about an acting school called ‘Ache Din Institute’ with a crazy bunch of teachers and students.

     

    The class consists of mad teachers such as Krushna, the flamboyant, flirtatious and artful acting coach who is a struggling actor himself and does odd jobs for a living. Bharti plays the dance instructor, whose contemporaries include Saroj Khan and Farah Khan. She has invented her own moves and grooves like Bharti-Natyamand Gambra (a mix of garba and bhangra).

     

    The ‘Kanjus’ but romantic old music master Sudesh who never misses a chance to mix two songs to create his ‘original’ compositions and the inimitable Urdu expert from Pakistan, Shakeel Siddiqui, who can speak no more than seven sentences in Urdu.

     

    “We thought we will not make a sitcom with the unknowns, so we have got on-board the four best stand-up comedians to create a big impact,” says Thakur on the star cast.

     

    Thakur informs that a recently-concluded survey conducted by the channel in Uttar Pradesh highlights that Indian men want more of comedy and crime. He believes that there is still so much one can do with the genre as today most channels only focus on either stand-up and drama comedy.

     

    “We wanted to get the genre on board and we got a lot of ideas as well. But since most of them revolved around stand-up, we said no. We finally cracked the code and settled for a sitcom,” says Thakur while adding that 10 years ago sitcoms ruled the Indian television screens with shows like Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi (1984), Wagle Ki Duniya (1988) Zabaan Sambhalke (1993), Shrimaan Shrimati (1995), Office Office (2001) and many more.

     

    Optimystix producers Vipul D. Shah and Sanjiv Sharma are confident that with a strong creative idea and powerhouse of talent, audiences will love its new age classes. “Comedy Classes is a very entertaining concept of mad teachers and students who will bring the house down with laughter through their weird classroom sessions,” say the producers.

     

    It won’t be all laughing business, the channel has taken it seriously and at the end of each episode, there will be a small goodness message delivered to the viewers.

     

    The new series will air five days a week at 10 pm from 7 October. It will be facing tough competition with properties like Aur…Pyaar Ho Gaya (Zee TV), Pyar Ka Dard Hai Meetha Meetha Pyara Pyara (Star Plus), Meri Aashiqui Tum Se Hi (Colors), Maharana Pratap (Sony Entertainment Television) and Chandrakant Chiplunkar Seedi Bambawala (Sab).

  • Not much growth in broadband in July: TRAI

    Not much growth in broadband in July: TRAI

    NEW DELHI: Broadband subscribers grew by a mere 2.87 per cent in the month of July to 70.81 million in the country.

     

    The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said the number of subscribers at the end of June were 68.83 million.

     

    For the second month in a row, the largest growth was seen in mobile device users (Phones + Dongles) with a growth of 3.56 per cent. The change in wired subscribers was a mere 0.45 per cent and the growth in fixed wireless (Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, Point-to-Point Radio & VSAT) was 1.54 per cent.

     

    The top five broadband service providers constitute 85.12 per cent market share of total broadband subscribers at the end of July. They are BSNL (18.14 million), Bharti (15.61 million), Vodafone (11.23 million), Idea Cellular (9.06 million) and Reliance Communications Group (6.23 million).

     

    The top five Wired Broadband Service providers are BSNL (9.98 million), Bharti (1.40 million), MTNL (1.13 million), Beam Telecom (0.40 million) and YOU Broadband (0.40 million).

     

    The top five Wireless Broadband Service providers are Bharti (14.21 million), Vodafone (11.23 million), Idea Cellular Ltd (9.06 million), BSNL (8.16 million) and Reliance Communications Group (6.12 million).

     

    Wireless subscribers with less than 1MB data usage in a month are not considered as internet/broadband subscribers by Reliance Communication Group and Idea Cellular.

  • Appreciable increase in broadband subscribers between May and June this year

    Appreciable increase in broadband subscribers between May and June this year

    NEW DELHI: As compared to marginal increases in the previous months, broadband subscribers grew by 5.35 per cent between May and June this year, according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

     

    The total number of subscribers went up from 65.33 million to 68.83 million in all segments: wired subscribers, mobile device users (phones + dongles) and fixed wireless (wi-fi, wi-max, point-to-point radio and VSAT).

     

    Unlike previous months, the largest change of 6.93 per cent was seen in the mobile segment, while there was a change of 2.51 per cent in the fixed wireless category and only 0.13 per cent in the wired subscribers.

     

    The top five broadband service providers constitute 84.98 per cent market share of total broadband subscribers at the end of June. They are BSNL (18.53 million), Bharti (14.76 million), Vodafone (10.30 million), Idea Cellular (8.78 million) and Reliance Communications Group (6.11 million). TRAI said that the wireless subscribers with less than 1MB data usage in a month are not considered as internet/broadband subscribers by Reliance and Idea.

     

    The top five wired broadband service providers are BSNL (9.98 million), Bharti (1.39 million), MTNL (1.13 million), Beam Telecom (0.40 million) and YOU Broadband (0.39 million).

     

    The top five wireless broadband service providers are Bharti (13.38 million), Vodafone (10.30 million), Idea Cellular (8.78 million), BSNL (8.55 million) and Reliance Communications Group (6.00 Million).

     

    In telecom, private operators hold 89.85 per cent of the wireless subscriber market share whereas the public-sector operators BSNL and MTNL hold only 10.15 per cent market share.

  • Marginal increase in broadband subscribers between March and April 2014

    Marginal increase in broadband subscribers between March and April 2014

    NEW DELHI: There was an increase of a marginal 1.45 per cent in the number of broadband subscribers between March and April this year, according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) report.

    The total number of subscribers went up from 60.87 million to 61.74 million in all segments: wired subscribers, mobile device users (Phones + Dongles), and fixed wireless (Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, Point-to-Point Radio & VSAT).

    The largest change of 2.5 per cent was seen in the fixed wireless segment, while there was a change of 1.78 per cent in the mobile users and just 0.34 per cent in the wired subscribers.

    The top five broadband service providers constitute 83.65 per cent market share of total broadband subscribers at the end of April. They are BSNL (16.94 million), Bharti (12.84 million), Idea (7.45 million), Vodafone (7.26 million) and Reliance Communications Group (7.15 million).

    The top five Wired Broadband Service providers are BSNL (10.01 million), Bharti (1.38 million), MTNL (1.13 million), You Broadband (0.39 million) and Beam Telecom (0.38 million).

    The top five Wireless Broadband Service providers are Bharti (11.46 million), Idea (7.45 million), Vodafone (7.26 million), Reliance Communications Group (7.04 million) and BSNL (6.93 Million).

    In telecom, private operators hold 89.36 per cent of the wireless subscriber market share where as BSNL and MTNL, the two PSU operators hold only 10.64 per cent market share. 

    Click here to read the full report