Bharti Tele-Ventures to rename itself Bharti Airtel; Delhi customer base is two million
By Our Corporate Bureau | 17 Feb 2006
The total GSM mobile customer base of Bharti Tele-Ventures in the Delhi region has crossed the 2 million mark. This is the first instance of any single mobile brand reaching the 2 million subscribers mark in a single city in India. The Hutch-BPL combine together has more than 2 million subscribers in Mumbai.
Delhi is the single largest market for telecom services in the country with the largest subscriber base among all metro cities. The city also boasts of the highest tele-density in the country, significantly higher than the national average.
As of end January 2006, Bharti had a total subscriber base of 17.37 million across the country for a market share of 28 per cent in the GSM segment. The company added more than a million new subscribers during January 2006.
PSU firm BSNL is second to Bharti in the GSM segment with a market share of 25 per cent followed by Hutchison Essar with nearly 20 per cent.
Bharti Tele-Ventures is planning to rename itself Bharti Airtel to give better exposure to the Airtel brand under which the company offers services across the country.
Global telecom majors Vodafone and Singapore Telecom hold significant stakes in the company. Vodafone acquired a less than 15 per cent stake last year for over $1 billion. Bharti is trading at Rs 367.1 (higher by 1.13 per cent) at 12.35 PM on the NSE today.