Bharti Airtel has achieved more than 50
million customers in Africa, where it acquired mobile operations in 15
countries in a $10.7 billion deal in June 2010.
Bharti currently operates in total 19 countries across Asia and Africa and is
the world’s fifth-biggest mobile operator by subscribers. In India, Airtel is
the market leader in mobile market with around 20 percent market share.
The company has an internal target to have 100 million customers in Africa by
the end of March 2013, according to a report in Economic Times.
Airtel is doing well in Africa as compared with its India operations. Airtel Africa’s ARPU was down 1 percent
to $7.3 in Q2 2011-12 from $7.4 in Q2 2010-11. Average minutes of use per user
have increased by 14 percent to 128 minutes from 112 minutes.
Monthly churn of Airtel Africa has
increased to 6.1 percent from 5.8 percent. Non-voice revenue as a percentage of
total revenue increased to 8.5 percent from 7.1 percent. SMS revenue as a
percentage of total revenue increased to 5.3 percent from 4.6 percent.
The company added 2,630 sites to 13,628 in
Africa from 10,998, while employees decreased by 1256 to 5,115 from 6,371.
In India, Airtel employees were reduced by
1,776 to 15,611 from 17,387.
Bharti Airtel posted 13.4 percent increase
in revenue in Q2 2011-12 at $3.78 billion compared with $3.28 billion in Q2
previous fiscal. Profit of Airtel plummeted by 38 percent to $225 million in Q2
2011-12 from $358 million in Q2 2010-11.
The consolidated total revenues for the
full year ended March 31, 2011 of $13,319 million grew by 42.1 percent y-o-y
lifted by the African operations. Bharti Airtel which began its Africa
operations last year, with the largest-ever Indian operator investment of $10.7
billion in Zain Africa, and later rebranded its logo to signify its international
operations in 19 countries, has reaped the rewards of its investments this
year.
By Telecomlead.com Team
editor@telecomlead.com
