Airtel History
Airtel History
Airtel History
promoting telecommunications services. Bharti Tele-Ventures received certificate for commencement of business on January 18, 1996. The Company was initially formed as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bharti Telecom Limited. The chronology of events since Bharti Tele-Ventures was incorporated in 1995 is as follows:
1995
1996
- STET International Netherlands NV, or STET, a company promoted by Telecom Italia, Italy acquired a 20% equity interest in Bharti Tele-Ventures
1997
- Bharti Telenet obtained a license for providing fixed-line services in Madhya Pradesh circle
- Bharti Telecom and British Telecom formed a 51% : 49% joint venture, Bharti BT, for providing VSAT services
1998
- Bharti Telecom and British Telecom formed a 51% : 49% joint venture, Bharti BT Internet for providing Internet services
- First Indian private fixed-line services launched in Indore in the Madhya Pradesh circle on June 4, 1998 by Bharti Telenet thereby ending fixed-line services monopoly of DoT (now BSNL)
1999
- Warburg Pincus (through its investment company Brentwood Investment Holdings Limited) acquired a 19.05% equity interest in Bharti Tele-Ventures
- Bharti Tele-Ventures (by acquiring a 63.45% equity interest in SC Cellular Holdings) acquired an effective 32.36% equity interest in Bharti Mobile (formerly JT Mobiles), the cellular services provider in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh circles
- New York Life Insurance Fund, or NYLIF, acquired a 3% equity interest in Bharti Cellular
2000
- Bharti Tele-Ventures acquired an effective equity interest of 40.5% in Bharti Mobinet (formerly Skycell Communications), the cellular services provider in Chennai
- Bharti Tele-Ventures acquired a 30.2% equity interest of Telecom Italia in Bharti Telenet and 18.8% from Bharti Telecom thereby making
- SingTel (through its investment company Pastel Limited) acquired STET's 15.3% equity interest in Bharti Tele-Ventures
- Bharti Tele-Ventures acquired an additional effective 41.64% equity interest in Bharti Mobile (by acquiring the remaining 36.55% equity interest in SC Cellular) resulting in Bharti Tele-Ventures holding an effective 74% equity interest in Bharti Mobile.
2001
- Bharti Telesonic entered into a joint venture, Bharti Aquanet, with SingTel for establishing a submarine cable landing station at Chennai
- Bharti Tele-Ventures issued additional equity for approximately US$ 481.30 million to SingTel, Warburg Pincus, AIF group, IFC, NYLIF,
- Bharti Cellular acquired a 100% equity interest in Bharti Mobitel (formerly Spice Cell ), the cellular services provider in Kolkata
- Bharti Tele-Ventures acquired 85% and 15% in Bharti Telespatial from Bharti Telecom and Intel, respectively
- Bharti Tele-Ventures acquired a 44% equity interest in Bharti Cellular from British Telecom, thereby making Bharti Cellular its 100% subsidiary
- Bharti Tele-Ventures acquired an additional 49% equity interest in Bharti Mobinet from Millicom International and BellSouth International, thereby owning 89.5% equity interest in Bharti Mobinet, which was further increased to 95.3% following an issuance of additional equity shares by way of rights issue
- Bharti Cellular entered into license agreements to provide cellular services in eight new circles following the fourth operator cellular license bidding process
- Bharti Telenet entered into license agreements to provide fixed-line services in the Haryana, Delhi, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka circles
- Bharti Telesonic entered into a license agreement with the DoT to provide national long distance services across India
- Bharti Aquanet, Bharti Telesonic and Bharti Cellular entered into license agreements with the DoT to provide ISP services in India
- Bharti Telesonic launched national long distance services under the brand name of IndiaOne
- Bharti Telenet launched fixed line services in Haryana under the brand name of TouchTel.
2002
- Comes out with issue of 18.53 crore equity shares through book building route with a floor price of Rs 45 per share, received bid for 18.55 crore shares. Through the issue, it becomes the first company in India to come out with 100% book building issue
-Issue price fixed at Rs 45 per share, floor price fixed by the company. Raises Rs 834 crore
-Shares listed on BSE, NSE and DSE, opens at 11% premium to its issue price of Rs 45
-Enters into a 5-year agreement with Escotel and ETL of the Escorts group to contract leased line connectivity for its cellular operations
-DoT grants ILD Telephony License to Bharti Telesonic, subsidiary of the company
-Signs MoU with Telia AB to buy out their 26% stake in Bharti Mobile
-Ties up with SSC (Secondary School Certification) Board, Hyderabad, where Bharti will announce SSC results to its customers on their
mobile phones
-ICICI Bank ties up with Bharti for pre-paid mobile cards via ATMs
-Alpine International Ltd. and ELM International Ltd. acquire shares of Bharti Tele-Ventures
-Sunil Mittal, Chairman & Managing Director of the company, bags Businessman of the year award by Business India
2003
-Company accorded its approval for amalgamation of its subsidiary companies viz: Bharti Telenet Ltd, Bharti Telesonic Ltd, Bharti Broadband Networks Ltd and Bharti Comtel Ltd through scheme of Amalgamation. The merged entity would be renamed as Bharti Infotel Ltd
-Mobilises 5 m long term foreign currency borrowings for expansion of cellular operations
-Bharti Group's cellular brand Airtel has unveiled free multimedia messaging services (MMS) for its customers. The company has also rolled out pan-India GPRS (General Packet Radio Services) for its corporate subscribers
-Mr Sin Hang Boon and Mr Wong Hung Khim have resigned from the Board of Directors of Bharti Tele Ventures Ltd with effect from February 27, 2003.
-Bharti Mobinet Ltd, the Bharti group company that provides the AirTel mobile service in Chennai, today launched its GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) network and an MMS (multi-media messaging) on the GPRS platform
-Mr P M Sinha resigns from the Board of Directors of the Company with effect from March 31, 2003.
-AirTel, Touchtel jointly offer freeTouchtel land line for post-paid Airtel connection
-AirTel unveils new scheme for pre-paid customers giving away free talk time worth Rs 10 crore
-Offers 0-1-2, a new cellular package for the customers, which means zero charges on incoming calls, Re 1 on mobile-to-mobile outgoing calls, Rs 2 on mobile-to-mobile STD calls
-Bharti cellular, wholly owned subsidiary of Bharti Tele-Ventures, increases its stake to 100% in Bharti Mobile
-Iinks distribution pact with Hathway Cable. With this alliance, Bharti is said to be the first telecom firm to step into television
distribution services
-Airtel augments cellular coverage in TN by including Arcot & Walajapet in its network
-Airtel ties up with Coke in Chennai to sell its Magic prepaid cards
-Airtel join hands with Alcatel & Videocon to launch new scheme
-Prof. V S Raju has been inducted on the Board of Directors of the Company.
-Bharti Tele-Ventures enters into an agreement with Telesystem (Mauritius) Pvt. Ltd
- AirTel on December 16, 2003 announced the launch of expense tracker service, which provides customers the option of tracking their day-to-day expenses on a daily or monthly basis. To avail of this service, the customer should register himself by sending EXP REG Your mail ID{gt} to 3020. This service will allow a user to track expenses, while on the move by sending an SMS. Each SMS sent to 3020 would cost Rs 3.
2004
- Bharti Cellular's AirTel has extended its mobile connectivity to Karaikkal, Nagur, Mannargudi and Kovilpalayam in Tamil Nadu circle.
-Airtel customer base touches new high of 5 lakh mark in Andhra Pradesh
- Mobile service provider AirTel is launching its first ever MMS (Multi Media service) downloads in Tamil. The launch of this service has been timed to coincide with Pongal.
-AirTel launched a family pack for its post-paid customers in Chennai on January 29. According to a press release, the family pack may have a maximum of 10 members spread across the country. The combined basic plan fixed charges/rental of all family members in the pack will have to be equal to Rs 450 but less than Rs 1000 for the family 450 pack and above Rs 1000 for the family 1000 pack. The offerings under family pack 450 include 15 free mobile to mobile STD minutes within the family, 50 free local calling minutes to each family member, calls within the family in same circle at 50 paise per minute, 25 free local SMS and one subscription alert service free for 3 months.
-Bharti Tele-Ventures enters into a three year service agreement with Ericsson
-Bharti Tele-Ventures (BTVL) has signed and received unified access service licence to provide GSM services in five circles including Uttar Pradesh (East), West Bengal & Andaman Nicobar, Orissa, Bihar and Jammu & Kashmir. The licence has been granted to Bharti Cellular Ltd (BCL), the cellular arm and subsidiary of BTVL.
-Airtel announces the signing of the first-ever bilateral roaming agreement between an Indian mobile service provider and its counterpart in Pakistan. This facility will be available to pre-paid as well as post-paid customers. AirTel's roaming agreement is with Mobilink, the only GSM cellular service provider in Pakistan
-Acquires switching systems from Tekelec that will give a technological edge to the company
-Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd signed an information technology outsourcing deal with infotech major IBM, estimated to be in the range of 0-750 million for a ten-year period.
-Signs MoU to join the South East Asia - Middle East - Western Europe 4 (SEA-ME-WE-4) consortium along with 15 other global telecom operators.
-Bharti Tele-Ventures has struck a deal with Shyam Telecom to buy out the latter's 67.5 per cent stake in cellular services company Hexacom for Rs 430 crore.
- Samsung India Electronics Limited has tied up with cellular operator Bharti for bundling its mobile handsets with a connection.
-The Bharti group finalised a Rs 500-crore deal to share its national long-distance (STD) network with VSNL in a first-of-its-kind accord between two top telecom service providers in a bid to optimise capacities in the NLD segment.
- Internet gateway and services provider, Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (VSNL) has signed a Right to Use (RoU) agreement to deploy mobile telephony major, Bharti Tele-Ventures' existing National Long Distance (NLD) backbone.
-Airtel has announced money-back guarantee offer in case of call drop or poor network experience for its subscribers
-- Airtel launched two-way international roaming and GPRS for prepaid customers in the Maharshtra and Goa circles
-India's leading cellular company Bharti Tele-Ventures has bagged the Asian MobileNews operator of the year award in India and the subcontinent
-Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd has awarded a million equipment contract to Swedish telecoms company Ericsson
-Bharti Televentures announced formation of a new strategic business unit to offer various telecom and IT services through a single contact
-Bharti Televentures unveiled a mobile portal featuring sports, entertainment and news among others
-Airtel ties up with Micro Tech to set up 'Mcops' vehicle security system
-Bharti Tele-Venture on July 19 launched ring back tone service which is a personalized mobile music service where the caller hears songs and other sound clips instead of the traditional switchboard ring-ring tone
-Airtel, a private telecom services provider, has commissioned its first 24x7 customer service centre in Andhra Pradesh
-AirTel introduces new scheme for hearing impaired in Maharashtra & Goa
- Rolls out Enhanced Data Rate for Global Evolution (EDGE) network in Pune on September 9, 2004, Ties up with Nokia for sale of Nokia 6230, an EDGE-enabled handset.
-Airtel launches EDGE services and a new pre-paid plan for Chennai
2005
-Airtel launches video services for its GPRS customers on February 22, 2005
-Bharti inks 5-m deal with Nokia for rural network expansion
-Bharti Tele Ventures Ltd has announced that Airtel, ICICI Bank & VISA have joined hands to launch mChq - a revolutionary new service a credit card on the mobile phone
2006
-Mobile service provider Airtel today announced the launch of `Save My Phone Contact' service for its pre-paid and post-paid customers in Delhi
-Bharti Tele Ventures bags 'Wireless Service Provider of the Year' & 'Competitive Service Provider of the Year' awards
-Bharti Airtel Ltd has informed that Microsoft and the Company announced a strategic partnership that will offer a range of software and services for small and medium businesses (SMBs) in India.
-Bharti Airtel Ltd on Nov 8, announced a first-of-its-kind alliance with the Adani Group for establishing an end-to-end modern telecommunication network infrastructure for the latter's multi-sector special economic zone (SEZ), located near Mundra Port in
2007
-Bharti Airtel, telecom major, has come out with a slew of initiatives including buying out SingTel's 50 per cent stake in joint venture under sea cable company Network i2i for 0 million.
-Bharti Airtel on Feb 11, has been awarded QCI-DL Shah National Award on Economics of Quality.
-Bharti Airtel Ltd has announced the following changes in the operational leadership structure and roles in the Company effective April 01, 2007.
-Bharti Airtel Ltd on April 01, 2007, has announced the reduction in International Long Distance Tariffs (ISD) for all its mobile customers in India.
2008
- Nokia Siemens Networks on Jan 3 declared that it has been awarded a multi million euro contract from Bharti Airtel Ltd for deployment of a
single interactive voice response (IVR) platform across 23 circles. The three-year turnkey contract comprises designing, planning, systems integration and optimisation services to raise overall customer experience. The new IVR solution will enable Airtel to deliver services such as voice SMS, televoting, call management services, caller ring back tone and voice portal on a faster time-to-market basis and, therefore, reduce OPEX costs.
- Bharti Airtel Ltd on February 13, 2008 has announced that it has achieved the 60 million customer mark. This landmark has catapulted Bharti Airtel into the club of top mobile operators in the world in terms of subscriber base. The 60 million customer base covers mobile as well as fixed line and broadband customers.
- Bharti Airtel tied up with US-based Apple Inc to bring the popular GSM-based iPhone in the country.
- Bharti Airtel Ltd has forged a technology alliance with Infosys Technologies Ltd to launch its Direct-to-Home (DTH) television services. Infosys, through its digital convergence platform, will offer a suite of products including devices, application servers and interactive applications for Airtel's DTH services.
2009
- Bharti Airtel HAS signed a five-year managed services deal valued at 0 million with Alcatel Lucent for its fixed-line and broadband operations.
- Bharti Airtel launched the 'Airtel Advantage' initiative. The initiative is aimed at offering the added advantage to Airtel customers to be in touch with each other at an affordable rate of 50 paise per minute, be it a national long distance call (STD) or a local call.
- In order to create products and services for the small, medium and large enterprises, Bharti Airtel and Cisco announced a strategic business alliance. The alliance would combine the strengths of Airtel's network service and Cisco' Internet Protocol (IP) technologies.
- Bharti Airtel - Airtel and mChek announce milestone of One Million users; introduce a broad range of new mCommerce services.
2010
- Bharti Airtel submitted its bid for 3G spectrum, the auction for which starts from April 9.
Inc. It has done this in order to focus on the cloud-based managed computer services market.
- Bharti Airtel, India's No.1 cellular carrier has won broadband spectrum in four circles. Earlier, Bharti has said that it had tied up the entire financing requirement of .3 bn for the planned buy, through a series of banks.