Cash from Inclusive Growth for Global Ambitions – Bharti Airtel

February 26, 2010 · Filed Under Mobile, Telecom · Comment 

If you have been tracking corporate India’s moves in the past 18 months [Tata Corus + Jaguar, Hindalco Novellis, etc]  our businessmen are in a hurry to fulfill their global ambitions. Bharti Airtel’s Mittal is also running on a similar track and this I believe is going to be really big – SingTel will be the silent beneficiary :-)

Bharti Airtel management hosted the first management call after they bid for the Zain’s African Operations. Here are the key takeaways from the call, Read more

Bharti Airtel – Zain Deal – Another Expensive Acquisition

February 16, 2010 · Filed Under Mobile, Telecom · Comment 

Mr. Sunil Mittal is the most determined soul for Wireless African Safari :-) After having paid a premium in acquiring Warid Telecom, Bangladesh, this time his company is paying similar hefty premium [even RoE, RoCE are all low and not comparable to Airtel] to acquire the Wireless operations of Zain in Africa with operations in 16 countries including  Nigeria, Congo and Tanzania which account for 52-55% of subscribers and revenues.

Even before I could get to my spreadsheets, ready food is on my table and the consensus amongst Analysts is Bharti is paying upto 40% premium to Zain for acquiring Wireless Business in Africa. Read more

How Idea Managed to beat Bharti Airtel in Traffic Growth

January 29, 2010 · Filed Under Mobile, Telecom · Comment 

First, my apologies that I couldn’t cover neither Idea Cellular nor Bharti Airtel Results & Analyst Call as I am stuck in Mumbai for some personal work. However, going through the data, I find it interesting to note that Idea Cellular has punched straight into the face of Bharti Airtel in tems of Traffic Growth for the quarter ending Dec-2009.

Idea’s minutes grew 15% QoQ much faster than Bharti (6.7%) even after adjusting for lower base and the impact of J&K ban on the latter. The reasons could be Read more

Abhu Dhabi Group Liquidating Warid Telecom Holding – Bharti Airtel bids

December 16, 2009 · Filed Under Mobile, Telecom · Comment 

The Abu Dhabi group led by Sheikh Mabarak Al Nahayan is liquidating its holding in Warid Telecom to stabilize the new Epicenter of financial crisis, Dubai. Warid Telecom is a JV with SingTel and has services in Bangladesh and Pakistan as well. However, only the stake of Bangladesh operations is on the block.

SingTel the natural ally of Bharti Airtel is likely to let the deal through if all necessary clearance are obtained or the former may also raise its stake from the current 30%. Warid Telecom has mere 3 million subscribers compared to Airtel’s 116 mn.

How much is Warid Telecom Worthy of ? Bharti Airtel being the superior Wireless Carrier in India by all means Read more

Airtel Freedom Plus – 20% to 44% Expensive than Simple Reliance Tariffs

October 31, 2009 · Filed Under Mobile, Telecom · 3 Comments 

Yesterday at the Analyst call, Bharti Airtel executives denied to cut call tariffs. However, shortly after they announced Airtel Freedom Plan which is the Biggest Marketing Gimmick by Bharti Airtel.

Airtel is clearly worried about two competitors – Reliance Communications and Tata DoCoMo and hence the new tariff plan. Airtel Freedom Plan is based on the core themes of DoCoMo’s Per Second Billing and RCom’s Simple Tariffs which the customers are demanding. Airtel’s marketing team designed this Read more

Bharti Airtel – Banking on Brand + Coverage + Won’t Match Lowest Tariffs

October 30, 2009 · Filed Under Broadband, Mobile, Telecom · Comment 

The management of Bharti Airtel hosted Analyst call this afternoon and continued to reaffirm their stand that Tariff cut is uncalled for by them. Mr. Akhil Gupta said,

As seen time and again, STRONGER Player do emerge winner even though they suffer in short term. Lost to new operators will be irreparable. We are Truly Integrated Telco with 35% of EBITDA from non-wireless business. We acknowledge that price is important but as market leader, we do not find any reason to match Lowest Common Denominator. We may suffer temporary setback in Revenue / profit Growth, but in the long run we have a great opportunity.

Mr. Manoj Kohli said, Read more

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