Bharti Tele-Ventures

After winning early battles with its competitors (BSNL, Tata, Reliance and others) in
Telecom sector, Bharti finally was able to establish its leading market position it was the first
in providing mobile services to India, the first in breaking state monopoly in fixed-line services
and being the first private player in long-distance operation when they witnessed long
anticipated profits in 2003.

Bharti, from its inception in1994 until its first bid in 1999 to finally 2003, considered
telecom to be a consumer service business and hence developed strategies based on its SWOT
analysis.

STRENGTHS:

Focused on only telecom sector

Good management team
Attracting talent which helped in lowering recruitment turnaround average and lowering
attrition rate as compared to industry standards
Ample training for the newly recruited

WEAKNESSES:

Scarcity of licenses in 1999 - only 2 mobile operations & 1 fixed-line service operation
Financially vulnerable for the costly infrastructure required and huge upfront costs in
telecom industry

OPPORTUNITIES:

Growing market share

To cater to the upcoming and new technology

THREATS (STRATEGIC ISSUES):

Competition from conglomerates like Tata & Reliance and other big players like BSNL,
Hutchison, Sterling Cellular, etc.
Continuously changing Government regulations
Continuous reduction in ARPU and usage charges per second
Customer Turnover is higher in Mobile operation
Introduction of the use of WLL by the fixed-line service providers within their BTS
license areas
STRATEGIES used based on SWOT Matrix:

SO (Maxi-Maxi) STRATEGY:

Going Pan India by acquiring companies in different circles

In South India, it started targeting the cities with many technology companies
Covered the metropolitan cities
Decentralized management structure Mobility (Bharti Cellular Ltd.) and Infotel
(fixed-line, long-distance, and data) each has its own president, and under them every
operation had its own CEO.

WO (Mini-Maxi) STRATEGY:

Going circle by circle for its operations

Targeted and created SME business market
Direct Sales strategy for tapping corporate sector that constituted of bulk of postpaid
revenue in later period
Sales distribution network Exclusive showrooms and dealerships catering to premium
customers and small businesses and also Established for prepaid cards to reach every
corner of the city
Purchased the supplies on credit, promising to pay when the customers are happy

ST (Maxi-Mini) STRATEGY:

Tight cost control and focused strategy only to telecom sector

Bharti launched fixed-line operations in Delhi, Haryana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu
targeting corporate users as they relatively give high ARPU. Also, customer turnover is
much lower in the fixed-line business.

WT (Mini-Mini) STRATEGY:

To get an edge over its competitors in terms of licenses/ circles or from the threats mentioned
above, Bharti established the below strategies:

Strategic Partnerships with foreign players like STET, Italys state owned telecom
operator and British Telecom (BT) during 1996-99.
By 2003, Bharti attracted huge investments from Warbug Pincus and SingTel and
secured loans from international organizations for its expansion plans.

Recommendations:

Tap the new markets i.e. developing countries as Indian market is getting saturated.
Build strategies for incorporating the upcoming technology. Here the upcoming
technologies would be 4G, VAS, LTE (long term evolution or 4G).
 For providing the internet for Internet of Thing, Bharti should enter into strategic
partnerships with foreign companies.
Finally build strategies for Mobile Number Portability and increase its customer base and
subsequently its market share along with its profits. Also develop strategies to keep its
existing customers happy.