Tag: Bharti Airtel

News

Shreyansh V. Shah, Research Analyst, StoxBox views on Bharti Airtel posted tepid results in Q4FY24

May 15, 2024 by Sujata Muguda 0 Comments #Bharti Airtel, #OTT services, #Shreyansh V. Shah, #StoxBox

Impacted by the devaluation of the Nigerian Naira, Bharti Airtel posted tepid results in Q4FY24. However, the company was still able to improve ARPU to Rs. 209, the highest in the industry, owing to their focus on upgrading customer plans, a better mix and the addition of high-value customers. The India business continued its healthy growth trajectory led by higher realizations and strong 4G/5G customer additions during the year. The company has effectively defended its market share of subscribers and gained a larger slice of the revenue pie, all while adopting a more restrained approach to 5G rollout compared to rivals, notably Jio. With a 15-17% price hike expected post elections, Bharti’s ARPU is poised to grow to new highs. Even excluding this hike, the ARPU is forecasted to grow, propelled by factors such as incremental tariff adjustments, ongoing conversions from 2G to 4G, migration from prepaid to post-paid plans, increased data consumption per user, and the allure of bundled offerings inclusive of OTT services. As we advance, the company’s progress on 5G adoption, capex trajectory, prepaid to postpaid conversion trends, and traction in home broadband will be key monitorable.

Bharti Airtel Ltd. Q4FY24 Result First Cut – Devaluation of the Nigerian Naira weighs on financial performance; ARPU growth continues

  •  Company reported revenue of Rs. 36,009 crores, up 4.4% YoY / down 0.8% QoQ in Q4FY24, below market expectations of Rs. 38,607 crores owing to currency devaluation impact in Africa.
  • India revenues for Q4FY24 stood at Rs. 28,513 crores, an increase of 12.9% YoY. Domestic mobile revenues grew 12.9% YoY, led by a rise in 4G/5G customers (28.6 million YoY and 7.8 million customers QoQ) and an increase in ARPU.
  • ARPU for the quarter stood at an industry-leading Rs. 210 in Q4FY24 compared to Rs. 208 in Q3FY24 and Rs. 193 in Q4FY23 on consistent strategy of acquiring high-value customers, improved realizations and pricing strategies.
  • The mobile data consumption was up 25% YoY, with consumption per customer at 22.6 GB per month.
  • Total customer base stood at 562 million in Q3FY24 compared to 551 million in Q3FY24.
  • EBITDA rose 4.2% YoY / down 2.3% YoY to Rs. 19,590.5 crores, while EBITDA margin stood at 52.1% (down 12bps YoY / up 78bps QoQ) in Q4FY24. India’s EBITDA margins improved to 53.6% (up 56 bps YoY) in Q4FY24.
  • Profit after Tax stood at Rs. 2,072 crores (down 31.1% YoY / down 15.2% QoQ) in Q4FY24, missing market expectations of Rs. 3,274 crores owing to higher tax expenses.
  • Net Debt to EBITDA (annualized) stood at 2.61x as on 31 March, 2024 compared to 2.59x in Q3FY24.
Business

Airtel Xstream Play strengthens regional content library, partners Sun NXT

May 2, 2024 by Sujata Muguda 0 Comments #Airtel Xstream Play, #Airtel Xstream Play strengthens, #Bharti Airtel, #Gurugram, #India’s leading telecommunications service providers, #ManoramaMax, #OTT content, #Sony LIV, #Sun NXT

Gurugram (India), May 2, 2024: Bharti Airtel (“Airtel”), one of India’s leading telecommunications service providers, today, announced that Airtel Xstream Play, India’s fastest-growing OTT aggregator service with over five million paid subscribers, has partnered with Sun NXT, a leading video streaming platform, owned and operated by the Sun TV Network Limited.

Airtel Xstream customers can now enjoy Sun NXT’s 50,000+ hours of content that include exciting titles across blockbuster movies, exclusive series, TV shows, live TV, kid’s content, and more in a whole host of languages from Tamil to Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Bangla, and Marathi. Users can enjoy content from across 23 content apps on Airtel Xstream making it one of the largest bouquets of OTT content aggregated on a single app in India.

It also offers the unique features of a single app, single subscription, single sign-in, unified content search, and AI-driven personalized curation for each user with users being able to access Airtel Xstream Play across devices including mobiles, tablets, and laptops through the app or web and on large screens.

Some of the other apps on Airtel Xstream Play include Sony LIV, Lionsgate Play, Chaupal, Hoichoi, FanCode, ManoramaMax, ShemarooMe, Alt Balaji, Ultra, ErosNow, EPICon, Docubay, and Playflix amongst many others.

Business, News

Kaspersky and Airtel join forces to make online journeys more secure for customers

Jul 30, 2021 by Rekha Nair 0 Comments #Bharti Airtel, #CEO of Kaspersky, #CIO, #Eugene Kaspersky, #General Manager, #Kaspersky (South Asia), #Mr. Dipesh Kaura, #Pradipt Kapoor

Bharti-Airtelkaspersky logo

Airtel customers now purchase Kaspersky security solutions for PC and Smartphones via Airtel Thanks app

Global cybersecurity company Kaspersky has partnered with Bharti Airtel (“Airtel”) – India’s premier communications solutions provider, to ensure instant security for internet users in India.

The collaboration between the two companies will allow Airtel customers to purchase Kaspersky Total Security solution directly from the Airtel Thanks app in a matter of few clicks. What’s more! Airtel customers also enjoy exclusive deals on these advanced solutions from Kaspersky.

Airtel customers simply need to download the latest version of Airtel Thanks app> Go to ‘Shop’ section> Go to lifestyle offers> Click on the Kaspersky banner and get started. Airtel Thanks also enables seamless payments through cards, net banking and UPI.

The alliance is formed with the aim to increase the cybersecurity awareness amongst Indian internet users and encourage them to practice cyber safety in the wake of growing cyberthreats.

Cyberthreats are constantly evolving and cybercriminals in the past 2 years have been actively targeting internet users in India. In the first quarter of 2021 Kaspersky products detected 37,650,472 different Internet-borne cyberthreats. Mobile users are also at risk as cybercriminals are constantly targeting them for financial gains, as well as to obtain important private data. Mobile threats in India have drastically increased since 2019 and are becoming more targeted and sophisticated in nature. India ranked 7th amongst the countries attacked with Mobile Threats in 2020.

The top mobile threats targeted at the smartphone users globally were, Adware which topped the list with 57% (3,254,387 detections).Talking about the other threats, the number of backdoors detected almost tripled from 28,889 in 2019 to 84,495 in 2020. The number of detected Android exploits increased seventeen fold, and the number of Trojan- Proxy threats had increased by twelve times. Kaspersky solutions detected 156,710installation packages for mobile banking Trojans in 2020, which is twice the number of attacks detected in 2019. However, a decline in ransomware trojans was witnessed as we found 20,708 installation packages for ransomware Trojans in 2020, a decrease of 3.5 times as compared to the previous year.

Eugene Kaspersky, CEO of Kaspersky, said: “We’re very much looking forward to supporting Bharti Airtel, the leading global telecommunications company and one of the biggest mobile service providers, in its goal to protect their users, create a more secure internet, and build a safer digital world together with Kaspersky. I’m convinced that this partnership will further contribute to establishing Airtel as an innovational pioneer and a leader in its industry.”

Pradipt Kapoor, CIO, Bharti Airtel said: “As customer lifestyles become increasingly integrated with digital platforms, it becomes paramount for all of us to secure these journeys with the right solutions. Airtel is working round the clock to deliver a secure network experience through world-class infrastructure and partnerships. We are delighted to partner with Kaspersky and make their solutions easily accessible for Airtel customers, who can purchase and install these in a matter of minutes and enjoy complete peace of mind.”

“Malicious apps, to spyware, mobile banking trojans, adware, phishing attacks, ransomware attacks, etc, are some of the most risky threats that a smartphone user has to be safe and secure from at all times. In a time when data privacy has become one of the most supreme criteria of our lives, smartphones become the greatest and most important source of our personal and sensitive data. Keeping this in mind, protecting our phones from the various online threats should be our highest priority. The first and the easiest step towards practicing cyber safety is by installing a reliable security solution to our devices. Increasing our cyber maturity and being aware of the constantly evolving threats is also the responsibility of an online user, in order to protect themselves from the nefarious cybercriminals”, said Mr. Dipesh Kaura, General Manager, Kaspersky (South Asia).

Mr. Dipesh added, “Our association with Airtel is not only a strategic business partnership for us, but is also an important collaboration in order to increase cyber awareness amongst the growing number of smartphone users, who also may be potential targets of cybercriminals. With an affordable and accessible internet connection available today, we have opened our gates to a great digital future, and we have taken yet another step towards securing this digital future with the help of Airtel. We look forward to our association with them, and hope to instil an increased sense of cyber awareness amongst Indian users as much as possible”.

Through this association with Airtel, Kaspersky looks forward to a positive reaction from the users, and hopes to encourage them to take a step forward towards securing themselves. Both the companies are trying to ensure instant security to the users and contribute towards making Digital India a lot more safe and secure.

Consumers can now conveniently avail of Kaspersky Total Security solution on the Airtel Thanks app and move closer to achieving cybersecurity.

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Business World

Airtel announces benefits worth Rs 270 cr to help 55 million low income customers to tide over the impact of Covid-19

May 16, 2021 by Neel Achary 0 Comments #Bharti Airtel

Hyderabad, 16 May, 2021: Bharti Airtel (“Airtel”), India’s premier communications solutions provider, today announced special benefits for low-income customers on its network to help them stay connected during the ongoing pandemic.

As a one-time gesture, Airtel will give the Rs 49 pack FREE of cost to over 55 million low income customers. The pack offers a talktime of Rs 38 and 100 MB data with a validity of 28 days. Through this gesture Airtel will empower over 55 million customers, mostly in rural areas, to stay connected and have access to critical information when needed.

Double the benefits. At this time, customers have an increased requirement of staying connected. Keeping this in mind, Airtel prepaid customers buying the Rs 79 Recharge Coupon will now get double the benefit. This will make it easier for them to stay connected at a difficult time.

These benefits will be available to Airtel customers in the coming week.

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Business World

Airtel announces new corporate structure to sharpen focus on digital

Apr 15, 2021 by Neel Achary 0 Comments #Bharti Airtel, #Chairman, #Sunil Bharti Mittal

Hyderabad, April 14, 2021: Bharti Airtel (“Airtel”), India’s premier communication solutions provider, today announced a new corporate structure. This is expected to sharpen the focus of the company in driving the rapidly unfolding digital opportunity in India while enabling it to unlock value.

The new structure envisages Airtel Digital Limited folding into the listed entity, Bharti Airtel. This will now house all of the digital assets spanning Wynk Music, Airtel X stream, Airtel Thanks, Mitra Payments platform used by a million retailers, Airtel Ads, Airtel IQ, Airtel Secure, Airtel Cloud and all future digital products and services.

The digital ambition of Bharti Airtel Limited is closely intertwined with the spine that connectivity provides across the country. It is therefore intended to house all the telecom businesses in a newly created entity, Airtel Limited – a wholly owned subsidiary of Bharti Airtel Limited. Bharti Telemedia, the 100% arm operating DTH services will sit alongside Airtel Limited for now. It is intended to eventually fold the DTH business into Airtel Limited to move towards the NDCP vision of converged services to customers. The company has moved the government to seek clarity on licensing policy given that carriage i.e. telecom and DTH is currently being regulated and managed under two separate ministries of Communications and I&B respectively.

Airtel Payments Bank will remain a separate entity under Bharti Airtel and work closely with the growing customer base to play a pivotal role in realising the digital opportunity that payments and financial services provides.

All of the company’s infrastructure businesses such as Nxtra and Indus Towers will continue to remain in separate entities as they are currently. So will International subsidiaries and affiliates.

The Board in its meeting held today approved the scheme enabling the company to file for all statutory approvals to give effect to the proposed rearrangement.

Airtel’s new corporate structure
Bharti Aitel

Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman, Bharti Airtel said: “The new structure sets the exciting future course for Bharti Airtel and provides focus on the four distinct businesses – Digital, India, International and Infrastructure, each, in a razor sharp way. We believe this will provide agility, expertise and operational rigour to serve our customers brilliantly while providing flexibility to unlock value for our shareholders. This structure will serve us well over the coming years and is a win-win for all stakeholders.”

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Business World

Airtel announces Spectrum Trading Agreement with Jio

Apr 6, 2021 by Neel Achary 0 Comments #Bharti Airtel

Hyderabad/ New Delhi, April 6, 2021: Bharti Airtel (“Airtel”) today announced an agreement with Reliance Jio Infocomm (“Jio”) to transfer the ‘Right to Use’ of Airtel’s 800 MHz spectrum in Andhra Pradesh (3.75 MHz), Delhi (1.25 MHz) and Mumbai (2.50 MHz) to Jio. The agreement is subject to statutory approvals.

Through this agreement, Airtel will receive a consideration of Rs 1037.6 crores from Jio for the proposed transfer. In addition, Jio will assume future liabilities of Rs 459 crores relating to the spectrum.

Gopal Vittal, MD & CEO (India and South Asia), Bharti Airtel said: “The sale of the 800 MHz blocks in these three circles has enabled us to unlock value from spectrum that was unutilised. This is aligned to our overall network strategy.”

Airtel joins hands with Apollo 24/7 to enable customers to access healthcare services digitally from the safety of their homes
Business World, News

Airtel joins hands with Apollo 24/7 to enable customers to access healthcare services digitally from the safety of their homes

Apr 6, 2021 by Rekha Nair 0 Comments #Antony Jacob, #Apollo 24|7, #Bharti Airtel, #Chief Executive Officer, #Chief Marketing Officer, #Shashwat Sharma

Hyderabad: Bharti Airtel (“Airtel”), India’s premier communications solutions provider, has partnered with Apollo 24/7, the fastest growing health App in India to offer a wide range of e-healthcare services to its customers as part of their exclusive Thanks benefits.

Airtel Platinum and Gold customers will get complimentary membership to Apollo Circle – a one of its kind program that makes healthcare access simpler through digital technologies:

Online Consultation: Virtual Consult top doctors and specialists from Apollo at best rates

Diagnostics: Online test booking along with home sample collection facility

Pharmacy: Home delivery of medicines with attractive cashback benefits

Wellness: Exclusive access to ‘UR Life’ platform for wellness engagement and contents

These exclusive benefits can be unlocked by eligible customers through the Airtel Thanks app. Airtel Platinum customer will get 12 months membership to Apollo Circle while Airtel Gold customers will get 3 months membership at no cost.

How can Airtel customers activate their complimentary Apollo Circle membership?

1. Airtel Thanks users (Gold & Platinum) can go to “Discover Thanks” section in the app.

2. Click on Apollo Circle benefit.

3. Choose Start Free trial.

4. Enter mandatory registration info which leads to a confirmation page.

5. User is redirected to Apollo 247 app to start using their subscription.

Antony Jacob, Chief Executive Officer, Apollo 24|7 said, “With Airtel we would like to strengthen our vision towards healthier India. Airtel shares our constant drive for innovation and quality customer experience, and we are truly happy to partner with them to take our digital health services a step further. I am confident every Airtel user will have best in class access to quality healthcare from Apollo.”

Shashwat Sharma, Chief Marketing Officer, Bharti Airtel said, “We, at Airtel, are obsessed with enabling a differentiated experience to our Airtel Thanks customers, In the post-Covid world, customers are increasingly looking for contact-less healthcare journeys. We are delighted to join hands with Apollo 24/7 to allow our Thanks customers to access best-in-class healthcare digitally from the safety of their homes.”

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Business World

Airtel receives CERT-IN empanelment for Cyber Security Services

Apr 1, 2021 by Neel Achary 0 Comments #Ajay Chitkara, #Bharti Airtel, #Director & CEO – Airtel Business, #Hyderabad

Hyderabad, March 31, 2021: Bharti Airtel (“Airtel”), India’s premier communications solutions provider, has joined a select group of companies to be empanelled by Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-IN) – India’s National Incident Response Center for cyber Incidents across India.

With this empanelment, Airtel will be able to offer its cyber security solutions to Union and State Governments as well as Public Sector entities, in addition to corporate customers. Airtel provides end-to-end managed security services to enterprise customers under Airtel Secure, which combines Airtel’s robust network security with cutting-edge solutions delivered through global partnerships.

As part of Airtel Secure, Airtel has set up a state-of-the-art Security Intelligence Centre that rates amongst the best in India with access to advanced technology and AI / ML tools to track and mitigate potential online threats. From end point protection, email protection to cloud DDOS protection and more, Airtel Secure has created the most comprehensive solutions portfolio through strategic partnerships with global leaders such as Cisco, Radware, VMWare, and Forcepoint.

Ajay Chitkara, Director & CEO – Airtel Business, said: “Airtel is trusted by over one million enterprises of all sizes. The CERT empanelment is a major milestone in our journey to becoming the preferred partner for enterprises when it comes to security, which is a top priority in today’s digitally connected world.”

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Business World

Airtel fortifies its strong spectrum portfolio Acquires 355.45 MHz spectrum for Rs. 18,699 Crores

Mar 3, 2021 by Neel Achary 0 Comments #Bharti Airtel, #digital communication solutions provider

Hyderabad: Bharti Airtel (“Airtel”), India’s premier digital communication solutions provider, today said that it has acquired 355.45 MHz spectrum across Sub GHz, mid band and 2300 MHz bands for a total consideration of Rs 18,699 crores in the latest spectrum auction conducted by the Department of Telecom, Government of India. This gives Airtel the most formidable spectrum holdings in the country.

Airtel has now secured Pan Indiadigital communication solutions provider foot print of Sub GHz spectrum that will help improve its deep indoor and in building coverage in every urban town. In addition, this precious spectrum will also help improve its coverage in villages by offering the superior Airtel experience to an additional 90 million customers in India. Through this auction, Airtel has also decisively strengthened its mid band and capacity spectrum holdings that will help it provide an exceptional customer experience at marginal capex. All of the spectrum will enable Airtel to deliver 5G services in future.

Airtel thanked the Department of Telecom for conducting a very efficient auction and putting out a large quantum of spectrum across multiple bands in the latest auction. Gopal Vittal, MD & CEO (India & South Asia), Bharti Airtel said, “At the outset, we would like to thank the Government for making abundant spectrum available for auctions. Airtel now has a solid spectrum portfolio that will enable it to continue delivering the best mobile broadband experience in India. We are most excited at bringing the power of Airtel services to an additional 90 million customers in India through the power of our Pan India Sub GHz footprint.”

The Company added that despite the large amount of spectrum made available, the 700 MHz band bands did not get any bid from the operators as it made no economic case for them based on the high reserve prices. The 700 MHz band coupled with the 3.5 GHz band has the potential to accelerate India’s progress to the top league of digitally enabled nations. Therefore, the reserve pricing of these bands must be addressed on priority in future. This will help the nation to benefit from the digital dividend that will inevitably arise out of this.

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Business World

Airtel enters the Ad Tech industry with Airtel Ads

Feb 24, 2021 by Neel Achary 0 Comments #Adarsh Nair, #Bharti Airtel, #Chief Product Officer

New Delhi: Bharti Airtel (“Airtel”), India’s premier communications solutions provider, has entered the advertising business with the launch of Airtel Ads – a powerful brand engagement solution.

Airtel Ads allows brands of all sizes to curate consent based and privacy safe campaigns to one of the biggest pool of quality customers in India. Airtel has over 320 million customers across its businesses – Mobile, DTH and Homes. Airtel’s Mobile customers have the highest average monthly data consumption at 16.8 GB and the highest monthly ARPU of Rs 166. Airtel’s fast growing DTH and Homes networks serve premium households across the country.

Using Airtel’s deep data science capabilities, Airtel Ads allows brands to create high engagement and high impact campaigns to the most relevant customer cohorts. This also means that Airtel customers receive only the most relevant brand offerings and not unwanted spam.

Says Adarsh Nair, Chief Product Officer, Bharti Airtel: “Airtel Ads breaks new ground in the USD 10 bn Indian advertising industry. By abstracting Airtel’s unique strengths of quality customers, best-in-class network and world-class digital platforms, Airtel Ads offers innovative channels for brands to reach the right audiences. What truly differentiates Airtel Ads is its razor-sharp focus on quality over quantity and real impact vs vanity metrics.”

Airtel Ads delivers superior returns on brand spends and focuses on relationships with customers rather than just delivering online impressions. Its rigorous compliance with ad-tracking standards and norms allows complete transparency with advertisers and ensures ZERO Ad Frauds in the form of false impressions and clicks.

“Advertising is an adjacency to our core business of delighting our customers with great services. Therefore, we combine the privacy that is paramount to our customers with the trust and transparency that is vital to the brands we serve.” Adds Adarsh Nair.

During the beta phase, Airtel Ads delivered successful campaigns for over 100 brands across multiple categories – FMCG, BFSI, Digital Startups, et al. Early advertisers include PepsiCo, zomato, CRED, Tata AIG, Lenskart, Apollo 247, Cars24, Gameskraft, Vahan, Harley Davidson.

Says Gajendra Jangid, the CMO of Cars 24: “Airtel Ads is a marketer’s delight and offers the most comprehensive set of customer cohorts, including premium. We believe that going forward telco-platforms will emerge as an important platform in the media mix for brands to deliver high performance campaigns in a digitally connected world.”

“As a brand, we are always on the lookout for more engaging and authentic ways to interact with our customers. With Airtel Ads we were able to build a high level of engagement and traffic on our platform” added Pradyot Ghate, VP – Product and Partnerships, Zomato.

Meanwhile Om Jha, Associate Director of Media at PepsiCo India had this to say, “We have had a great experience of working with Airtel Ads, which brings fresh perspective to the advertising inventory available to brands in India. Youth is at the core of our brand strategy, and we always look for innovative ways to interact with them. Through Airtel ads, we ran a focus digital campaign on the Wynk music app for the launch of new packs of 7UP and Mirinda. The outcomes of the campaign were really impressive given the customizable ad formats and quality audience base.”

The Indian advertising industry is expected to grow to USD 19 billion by 2025 from the current USD 10 billion. Airtel Ads is well positioned to capture a meaningful share of the growing pie with its sharp focus on quality.