|
The Bharti Group has been a leading player in the Indian
telecom industry ever since its entry into the sector during the early
1990s. Bharti Tele-Ventures, a part of Bharti telecom, offered various
telecom services such as cellular, fixed line, V-SAT and the Internet. The
operations of Bharti Tele-Ventures were managed by four wholly owned
subsidiaries. These included Bharti Cellular Ltd. (Cellular), Bharti Telenet
Ltd. (Access), Bharti Telesonic Ltd. (Long Distance) and Bharti Broadband
Networks Ltd. (Broadband Solutions). The flagship services of the Bharti
group in different telecommunication markets included Airtel (cellular),
Mantra (Internet Services) and Beetel (telephone instruments).
Bharti Cellular Ltd. was one of the first private players that entered the
cellular telephony sector in India. Bharti launched Airtel, a post-paid
cellular service in Delhi in November 1995. Bharti laid the foundations of
the Indian cellular business and Airtel became a popular brand due to its
innovative marketing strategies, continuous technological upgradations, new
value-added service offerings and efficient customer service. Initially,
confined only to the Delhi circle, Airtel services were extended to other
places as well. Bharti revolutionized the cellular market in India. It was
the first cellular operator to set cellular showrooms Airtel Connect, a
one stop cellular shop where the customers could purchase handsets, get new
connections, subscribe to various value-added services and pay their mobile
bills. Bharti was also the first player to provide roaming cellular services
and other services such as Smart mail, Fax facility, Call hold, Call waiting
and Webmessage. On account of such initiatives, Airtel was even voted the
Best Cellular Service'in the country for four consecutive years
(1997-2000).
Bharti acquired fourth operator license in eight circles in India during
July 2001, following which it launched its services in Mumbai, Maharashtra,
Gujarat, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh (West), Kerala, Tamilnadu and Madhya Pradesh
in 2002. Bharti also launched its services in Punjab in early 2002, when the
Department of telecommunication re-allotted the license to Bharti empowering
it to operate in Punjab. In 2002, Bharti along with the other two leading
cellular players, Hutchison and BATATA-BPL accounted for over 67% of the
total Indian cellular services market. The remaining market was shared by
Escotel, Aircel, Koshika, Spice Communications, Reliance Telecom, BSNL and
MTNL.
In the early 21st century, many leading players were seen entering into
partnerships with one another to sustain the increasing competitive
pressures and achieve higher economies of scale. A series of mergers and
acquisitions followed. In June 2002, Idea Cellular (consolidated cellular
services of Birla, AT &T and Tata) merged with BPL cellular in order to
consolidate their position. Hutchison acquired complete control of Fascel.
Bharti also followed this trend and acquired Skycell Communications Ltd., a
leading player in Chennai in mid 2002 and renamed it as Bharti Mobinet Ltd.
It also acquired Spice Cell in Kolkata. |
