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Tag: Gopal Vittal

  • Airtel signs up with SpaceX to bring Starlink services to India

    Airtel signs up with SpaceX to bring Starlink services to India

    MUMBAI; In a dramatic move set to shake up India’s telecommunications landscape, Airtel has today inked an agreement with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to bring Starlink’s lightning-fast internet services to the subcontinent.
    The landmark deal—the first of its kind in India—hinges on SpaceX securing regulatory approvals  to peddle Starlink services in the country. Once green-lit, the partnership promises to dramatically expand high-speed connectivity to even the most far-flung corners of India.

    Under the ambitious arrangement, Airtel shops could soon display Starlink equipment, whilst the telecom giant will offer Starlink services to its business customers. The collaboration aims to connect remote communities, schools and health centres currently languishing in digital darkness.

    Airtel and SpaceX will also explore how Starlink could help expand and enhance the Airtel network, as well as SpaceX’s ability to utilise and benefit from Airtel’s ground network infrastructure and other capabilities in India.

    Airtel managing director Gopal Vittal  hailed the partnership as a “significant milestone” in the company’s quest to deliver “world-class high-speed broadband to even the most remote parts of India.”

    “This collaboration enhances our ability to ensure that every individual, business, and community has reliable internet,” Vittal declared. “Starlink will complement and enhance Airtel’s suite of products to ensure reliable and affordable broadband for our Indian customers—wherever they live and work.”

    “Technology is always evolving and we’re committed to staying at the forefront of innovation so that we can continue to bring the best connectivity experience for our customers. This includes collaborating with global leaders like SpaceX to extend our reach and add new coverage to customers throughout all of India.”

    SpaceX’s President Gwynne Shotwell matched Vittal’s enthusiasm, stating: “We are excited to work with Airtel and unlock the transformative impact Starlink can bring to the people of India. We are constantly amazed by the incredible and inspiring things that people, businesses and organizations do when they are connected via Starlink. The team at Airtel has played a pivotal role in India’s telecom story, so working with them to complement our direct offering makes great sense for our business.”

    The deal represents a clever strategic move for Airtel, which already boasts over 550 million customers across 15 countries. By adding Starlink to its portfolio alongside existing partner Eutelsat OneWeb, Airtel strengthens its position as India’s largest integrated communications solutions provider.

    Starlink, which operates the world’s first and largest low Earth orbit satellite constellation, delivers broadband internet capable of supporting streaming, gaming and video calls to users worldwide. The service is engineered and operated by SpaceX, the world’s leading rocket launch provider.

    The collaboration signals a new chapter in India’s digital transformation saga, potentially bridging the stubborn digital divide that has long hampered the nation’s development ambition

  • Airtel & Bajaj Finance to jointly offer financial services

    Airtel & Bajaj Finance to jointly offer financial services

    MUMBAI: Bharti and Bajaj are getting together. No, it’s not a couple from heartland India that’s getting hitched (would we be writing about a couple from rural India? Just kidding, on second thoughts, we might. But nonetheless this  punning around was to make this heavy piece feel light!)

    Anyway getting  back to business: it’s India’s second largest telco Bharti Airtel and non-banking finance company Bajaj Finance that have p has shaken hands to create a  one-of-its-kind digital platform for financial services.

    The partnership brings together Airtel’s vast customer base of 370 million, 12 lakh+ strong distribution network, and Bajaj Finance’s diversified suite of 27 product lines, and distribution heft of 5,000+ branches and 70,000 field agents.

    Under the agreement, firstly, Airtel will progressively offer close to 10 Bajaj Finance’s financial products to its customers within this calendar year. Secondly,  customers can apply for Airtel-Bajaj Finserv Insta EMI card through the Airtel Thanks App, providing access to a range of offers and flexible EMI options.

    Bharti Airtel vice-chairman & MD Gopal Vittal said, “We are building Airtel Finance as a strategic asset for the group and will continue to invest in and grow the business.”

    Bajaj Finance managing director Rajeev Jain, added: “Together with Airtel, we seek to be the financier of choice to India and enable millions to access financial services, even in remote areas.”

    When it does manage to do that, it sure would have proved to  have been a valuable handshake. 

  • 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.

  • DTH business continues to see headwinds: Airtel CEO Gopal Vittal

    DTH business continues to see headwinds: Airtel CEO Gopal Vittal

    MUMBAI: At Bharti Airtel’s fourth quarter 2022 results CEO Gopal Vittal noted that the DTH business continues to see headwinds.

    During the company’s Q4 FY22 earnings conference call, Vittal said, “While the category continues to see a significant long-term opportunity for upgradation from cable, it’s also a classic case of an industry that has been brought to its knees due to excessive regulation”.  

    “The new tariff order brought about by TRAI a few years ago mandated every miniscule aspect of pricing in an industry which was managed until then very simply through forbearance. This created an overwhelming amount of complexity for the DTH players and even more importantly for the customer with no benefit to any stakeholder”, he further elaborated.

    Vittal added, “The second aspect of skewed regulation is to do with the very same content being made available for free. This is what happens on free-to-air channels and there is, mind you, very good content in many cases here with just windowing or it is being made available on the same screen through a broadband pipe at unregulated prices. This is what happens on OTT platforms. As a result, the DTH industry has been crippled.”

    “We are glad to see that TRAI has just come out with a new consultation paper on tariffs and we hope that at the end of this consultation, regulations will be lightened so that we can focus on what we do best, keep things simple and serve customers,” he added.

    Further, talking about the results he said, “during the year the company added Rs 13,440 crores to the top line and just under Rs 8,150 crores of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization to our India business alone. Beyond these numbers, what was even more satisfying is that we grew competitively in every part of our business; mobility, broadband, DTH and Airtel business grew market share to reach lifetime highs.”

    Vittal also explained the reason behind increasing tariffs. “We challenged ourselves to find a way to expand the reach of our home broadband presence after Covid and cracked an extremely innovative partnership with thousands of local cable operators using our digital promise. We strengthened our portfolio in airtel business through innovations in cPaaS and Airtel Secure. We continue to invest over Rs 20,400 crores into CapEx across our network, data centers, submarine cable capacities, and digital. Finally, we strengthened our partnerships. Use Airtel JV, the investment into level for SD-WAN, which is a software-defined wide-area network, for blockchain, Oracle for data centers, and Google as a strategic equity partner,” he added.

     

  • Airtel Q3 FY22: 5.4% revenue growth QoQ led by ARPU increase

    Airtel Q3 FY22: 5.4% revenue growth QoQ led by ARPU increase

    Mumbai: Telecom major Bharti Airtel on Wednesday announced its third quarter FY 2022 results. The company has posted quarterly revenues of Rs 29,867 crore, up 18.3 per cent year-on-year backed by strong and consistent performance delivery across the portfolio. It reported net income (after exceptional items) of Rs 830 crore.

    The telecom company’s India business saw quarterly revenues of Rs 20,913 crore which was up by 17.9 per cent YoY. Its India customer base stands at ~356 million.

    Its mobile services revenues were up by 19.1 per cent YoY led by an increase in average revenue per user (ARPU). Its mobile ARPUs increased to Rs 163 during the quarter versus Rs 146 in the same quarter previous year. Mobile data consumption increased by 33.8 per cent YoY at a rate of 18.3 Gb per month.

    Additionally, Airtel’s 4G customers increased by three million on a quarter-on-quarter basis to reach 195.5 million and account for 61 per cent of its total base.

    The company’s home business saw 40.4 per cent YoY growth led by strong customer additions. Home business witnessed 341,000 customer net additions in the quarter to reach a total base of 4.16 million. Its Digital TV customer base stood at 18.1 million during the same period. “Digital TV continues to improve its market position with steady revenue and customer base,” said the statement.

    Airtel Business revenues were up by 13.4 per cent YoY backed by strong demand for data portfolio and emerging businesses.

    During the quarter, Google announced that it would invest $1 billion in Airtel as part of its Google for India Digitization Fund. Airtel also announced a joint venture with Hughes Communications to become the largest satellite service operator in India.  

    “We have delivered another quarter of sustained performance across all our business segments,” said Bharti Airtel India and South Asia MD and CEO Gopal Vittal. “Overall sequential revenue growth was at 5.4 per cent and EBITDA margins came in at 49.9 per cent. The recent tariff revision for mobile services has gone down well and we are exiting the quarter with an industry leading ARPU of Rs 163. The full impact of the revised mobile tariffs, however, will be visible in the fourth quarter. Our Enterprise, Homes and Africa business continue to deliver strongly, with steady increase in contribution to the overall mix of the portfolio. Our balance sheet is robust and we are now generating healthy free cash flows. This has enabled us to recently prepay some of our spectrum liabilities to the Government thereby reducing the interest burden.”

    He further stated, “Google’s recent investment is a strong validation of Airtel’s role in being a leading pioneer of India’s digital revolution. Our emerging digital services portfolio across Airtel IQ, AdTech, digital marketplace, Nxtra and digital banking positions us well to build an Airtel of the future.”

  • Airtel’s mobile services revenue grew by 20.3 per cent in Q2’22

    Airtel’s mobile services revenue grew by 20.3 per cent in Q2’22

    Mumbai: Bharti Airtel Ltd (Airtel) has announced its audited consolidated second quarter results for the quarter ended on 30 September. The telecom company’s India revenues grew by 18.3 per cent year-on-year (YoY) to reach Rs 19,890 crore and mobile revenues grew by 20.3 per cent YoY on the basis of increase in ARPU and strong 4G customer addition.

    “The ARPU for the quarter came in at Rs 153 compared to Rs 143 in Q2’21 on a comparable basis, validating our strategy of focusing on quality customers,” the company said in a statement on Tuesday.

    The consolidated revenues for Q2’22 at Rs 28,326 crore grew 18.8 per cent YoY on a comparable basis and 13.0 per cent YoY on a reported basis. Consolidated mobile data traffic at 10,943 PBs in the quarter with a healthy YoY growth of 47.8 per cent.

    “The company continues to gain a strong share of the 4G customers in the market” it said. 4G data customers increased by 26.1 per cent YoY to 192.5 million. Over the last four quarters, the company has added 39.9 million 4G customers to its network. “ARPU continues to be the best in industry, average data usage per data customer at 18.6 GBs/month and voice usage per customer at 1,053 mins /month,” a statement further said.

    Airtel has rolled out additional ~3,500 towers and ~56K mobile broadband base stations in the quarter. Several initiatives have also been undertaken to improve network quality – leveraging digital tools/probes to monitor and improve customer experience and scaling up Vo-Wi-Fi adoption to improve indoor experience. “We now have over 33 million customers using our Vo-Wi-Fi services,” it said.

    Homes business segment witnessed a revenue growth of 21.3 per cent YoY with highest ever customer net additions of ~467K during the quarter to reach a total base of 3.8 million. It said, “We continued to expand our offering at a fast pace to non-wired cities through the LCO model. We now live in 436 cities through this model, with overall operations in 523 cities.”

    Airtel Business saw 11.5 per cent YoY growth, driven by demand for connectivity, connectivity related solutions and CPaaS (Communication Platform as a Service) across global business and domestic businesses, said the company.

    Airtel announced investment of Rs 5,000 crore on ‘Nxtra by Airtel’ network of hyperscale and edge data centres by tripling the data centre capacity to over 400MW by 2025 to meet the surging demand.

    Digital TV witnessed a revenue growth of 5.7 per cent YoY and continued to strengthen its leadership position with a customer base of 18 million at the end of quarter.

    The digital services offerings of Airtel have a customer base of over 180 million MAUs across key digital assets – Thanks, Wynk, Xstream. “There are over 1.2 million retailers transacting and making payments every day on Mitra App,” said the company.

    During the quarter, Airtel Payments Bank turned profitable with a strong total customer base of over 115 million and highly engaged Monthly Transacting Users (MTU) base of over 31 million.

    “We welcome the reforms announced by the government for the telecom industry and believe this will add to the ability of the industry to invest so as to drive India’s digital story,” said Bharti Airtel Ltd managing director and chief executive officer for India and South Asia Gopal Vittal. “We hope the reforms momentum will continue and all longstanding issues impacting the industry will be addressed.”

    “Our strategy of focusing on quality customers has been validated by the strong price flow and ARPU increase that we have seen in our wireless business. The step up in performance of our enterprise and homes business reflects the resilience and strength of our overall portfolio. Even more exciting is the way our new businesses – Airtel Payments Bank, Data Centres and revenues from digital services are shaping up. With a future proofed 5G network, we are well positioned to build a strong Airtel of the future,” he added.

  • Airtel brings in Rajiv Sharma as head of investor relations

    Airtel brings in Rajiv Sharma as head of investor relations

    Mumbai: Bharti Airtel Ltd (Airtel) has brought Rajiv Sharma on board as head of investor relations, effective 1 October. He takes over from Komal Sharan, who is moving to a new role within the Bharti group.

    In his new role, Sharma will report to Airtel India and South Asia chief financial officer Badal Bagri. He will be responsible for ensuring that the telecom company is appropriately represented with investors, lenders, equity partners, and financial institutions.

    Welcoming Sharma on board, Airtel India and South Asia MD & CEO Gopal Vittal said, “I am confident his rich experience and deep understanding of the telecom industry will add immense value to our engagement with the investor and financial community. I wish Rajiv the very best in his role and look forward to working closely with him.”

    Sharma is a qualified chartered accountant with over 18 years of experience in capital markets, corporate strategy, consulting, IPOs, fundraising, and equity research. He joins Airtel from Spark Capital Advisors where he was director – investment banking & head – digital research. Previously, he also worked with companies such as SBICAP Securities, HSBC, and PWC.

  • Bharti Airtel announces Amrita Padda as chief people officer

    New Delhi: Telecom giant Bharti Airtel on Wednesday announced the appointment of Amrita Padda as its chief people officer, with effect from 1 October. She will report to Bharti Airtel MD and CEO, Gopal Vittal.

    Padda was previously associated with Hindustan Unilever for over two decades, where she handled the entire spectrum of human resources roles. In her new role, she will be responsible for Airtel’s people strategy as the company transforms into a digital services provider, as per an official statement.

    Commenting on the appointment, Gopal Vittal said, “I am delighted to welcome Amrita to Airtel. Our People and culture of empowerment are our biggest strengths that enable us to deliver world-class experiences to our customers. I am confident that Amrita will add immense value to Airtel’s exciting journey, help build new capabilities and ensure the company continues to be a magnet for top talent from across the world.” 

    Amrita takes on the baton from Samit Deb, who has decided to pursue entrepreneurial opportunities outside of Airtel. “I would like to thank Samit for his contribution to Airtel and strengthening our people practices. On behalf of everyone at Airtel, I wish him the very best in all his future endeavours,” Vittal added.

  • Airtel has perfected the LCO model for home broadband, says Gopal Vittal

    Airtel has perfected the LCO model for home broadband, says Gopal Vittal

    KOLKATA: Bharti Airtel (Airtel) is going head-to-head with archrival Jio in the home broadband segment by putting pedal to the metal on its expansion plans. While the company has seen record subscriber addition in September, it will keep focusing on LCO partnership model.

    In an earnings call after Q2 results, Bharti Airtel India and South Asia MD & CEO Gopal Vittal declared the company has “perfected” the LCO model. Vittal said that the model has done well after being tested for seven-eight months using several different approaches in a handful of different cities. Hence, the company is scaling up the model now and has rolled it out in 29 more towns in Q2.

    Under this model, the company has a standard toolkit where it is able to go out and actually work with the local cable operator in a particular town. Airtel gives them a revenue share for laying the last mile fibre and maintaining it. On the other hand, the router, the billing system, the plan and customer relationship is managed by Airtel.

    Read more news on Airtel

    Vittal has credited work from home, surge in streaming and online education for spurring growth in  the home broadband sector. He also mentioned that the price reduction in wired broadband sector would also help in overall growth. However, the impact of the price correction would be noticeable in the next quarter.

    In the quarter ended September 30, Airtel has added 129,000 new consumers along with a million homes passes, which is amongst the highest that it has seen in any quarter.

    Other than its core telecom business, Airtel has registered a gradual growth in the DTH business as well. “We are pleased with the progress that we have made on DTH – adding more than half a million customers. Primarily that is because we are able to synergise our distribution systems of mobility and DTH. Mobility has a distribution system that’s almost 25 times that of DTH. In places like Bihar, UP, Rajasthan, we are getting significant synergistic effort by eventually finding the right model to synergise but yet keeping enough focus on DTH business,” Vittal commented.

    Bharti Airtel India and South Asia chief financial officer Badal Bagri added that most of the acquisition in the DTH segment has come in the later part of July. While July, August are softer months in terms of recharges and addition, the company has seen the traction picking up in September. Bagri is optimistic that the trend will hold.

    A recent Crisil report stated that DTH broadcasting, which accounts for 37 per cent of total television (TV) subscribers in India, is set to buck the economic downturn and log a revenue growth of 400-600 basis points (bps) to Rs 22,000 crore this fiscal, because of healthy subscriber additions.

    Airtel has struck content partnerships with all major OTT platforms lately. Vittal acknowledged that content can be a differentiator for telecom players, while also mentioning that he has not seen any compelling evidence to suggest that general entertainment content is a strong differentiator. However, he added that topical events like sports work quite well.

  • Airtel Digital TV operating revenue up as bottom line dips for first quarter

    Airtel Digital TV operating revenue up as bottom line dips for first quarter

    BENGALURU: The digital TV services segment from Sunil Mittal’s Bharti Airtel Ltd (Airtel), Airtel Digital TV, which provides direct to home (DTH) satellite television services, reported growth of 0.8 percent in operating revenue at Rs 744.8 crore for the quarter ended 30 June 2020 (Q1 2020, quarter or period under review) as compared to Rs 738.9 crore for the corresponding quarter of the previous year Q1 2019 (y-o-y). However, this is not a true oranges-oranges comparison, since as of 1 March 2020, Airtel Digital TV services has implemented new guidelines of NCF (Network Carriage Fees) under the new tariff order (NTO) from Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). The company says in a media release that Airtel Digital TV revenue witnessed a growth of 9.3 percent y-o-y on an underlying basis, on the back of strong customer additions.

    Airtel Digital TV operating profit for the quarter under review declined 23.5 percent to Rs 276.2 crore (37.1 percent of operating revenue) as compared to Rs 361.2 crore (48.9 percent of operating revenue) for Q1 2020. Airtel reported 1.3 percent growth in Assets to Rs 3,462 crore for Q1 2021 from Rs 3,417.4 crore in Q1 2020. However, Assets in Q1 2021 were 12.9 percent lower than the Rs 3,794.9 crore in the immediate trailing quarter (Q4 2020). The segment’s liabilities for Q1 2021 grew 11.6 percent to Rs 4000.5 crore from Rs 3,585.2 crore in Q1 2020. Liabilities in the quarter under review were however 3 percent lower than the Rs 4,122.4 crore in the immediate trailing quarter Q4 2020.

    The company reported a 5.1 percent y-o-y increase in net DTH subscribers in Q1 2021 at 1.68 crore as compared to 1.6 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

    Bharti Airtel’s consolidated revenue for Q1 2021 grew 15.4 percent on an underlying basis to Rs 23,939 crore as compared to the year ago quarter. Consolidated EBIDTA for the quarter under review was Rs 10,639 crore (44.4 percent margin). India revenue at Rs 17,589 crore were up 14.6 percent and up 15.1 percent on an underlying basis y-o-y.

    An earnings media release for Q1 2021 quotes Airtel MD and CEO, India & South Asia Gopal Vittal: “We are going through an unprecedented crisis caused by COVID. Despite this, our teams have served the country well and kept our customers connected. Data traffic growth surged by ~73 percent y-o-y even as 4G net additions slowed down to 2 Million caused by supply chain shocks in the device ecosystem. Revenues grew by 15% Y-o-Y and performance was satisfactory across all segments. Our flagship “War on Waste” program, helped improve EBITDA margin by 1.6 percent over the previous quarter. To serve our customers even better, we have launched a company-wide program to improve our customer experience. We continue to invest in the best of emerging technologies to make our networks future ready. We have made rapid strides in our digital business, with nearly 155 million monthly active users across Airtel Thanks, Wynk, Xstream and our payments platforms. Today, 60 percent of Airtel’s entire business goes through its digital channels. We are most excited about the string of partners we are attracting in order to build greater stickiness and ultimately growth from our digital assets.”

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