Bharti Airtel Limited (Hindi: भारती एयरटेल) (BSE: 532454) formerly known as Bharti

Tele-Ventures LTD (BTVL) is an Indian company offering telcommunication services

in 19 countries. It is the largest cellular service provider in India, with more than 141
million subscriptions as of August 2010.[2] Bharti Airtel is the world's third largest,
single-country mobile operator and fifth largest telecom operator in the world with a
subscriber base of over 180 million.[3] It also offers fixed line services and broadband
services. It offers its telecom services under the Airtel brand and is headed by Sunil
Bharti Mittal. Bharti Airtel is the first Indian telecom service provider to achieve this
Cisco Gold Certification. To earn Gold Certification, Bharti Airtel had to meet rigorous
standards for networking competency, service, support and customer satisfaction set forth
by Cisco.[4] The company also provides land-line telephone services and broadband
Internet access (DSL) in over 96 cities in India. It also acts as a carrier for national and
international long distance communication services. The company has a submarine cable
landing station at Chennai, which connects the submarine cable connecting Chennai and
Singapore.

It is known for being the first mobile phone company in the world to outsource
everything except marketing and sales and finance. Its network (base stations, microwave
links, etc.) is maintained by Ericsson and Nokia Siemens Network,[5] business support by
IBM and transmission towers by another company.[6] Ericsson agreed for the first time, to
be paid by the minute for installation and maintenance of their equipment rather than
being paid up front. This enables the company to provide pan-India phone call rates of
Rs. 1/minute (U$0.02/minute).[7] During the last financial year [2009-10], Bharti has
roped in a strategic partner Alcatel-Lucent to manage the network infrastructure for the
Telemedia Business.

The company is structured into four strategic business units - Mobile, Telemedia,
Enterprise and Digital TV. The mobile business offers services in 18 countries across the
Indian Subcontinent and Africa. The Telemedia business provides broadband, IPTV and
telephone services in 89 Indian cities. The Digital TV business provides Direct-to-Home
TV services across India. The Enterprise business provides end-to-end telecom solutions
to corporate customers and national and international long distance services to telcos.[8]

Globally, Bharti Airtel is the 3rd largest in-country mobile operator by subscriber base,
behind China Mobile and China Unicom. In India, the company has a 30.7% share of the
wireless services market.[9] In January 2010, company announced that Manoj Kohli, Joint
Managing Director and current Chief Executive Officer of Indian and South Asian
operations, will become the Chief Executive Officer of the International Business Group
from 1 April 2010. He will be overseeing Bharti's overseas business. Current Dy. CEO,
Sanjay Kapoor, will replace Manoj Kohli and will be the CEO, effective from 1 April
2010.
 Founded in 1976, by Sunil Bharti Mittal, Bharti has grown from being a
manufacturer of bicycle parts to one of the largest and most respected business groups in
India. With its entrepreneurial spirit and passion to undertake business projects that are
transformational in nature, Bharti has created world-class businesses in telecom, financial
services, retail, and foods.

Bharti started its telecom services business by launching mobile services in Delhi (India)
in 1995. Since then there has been no looking back and Bharti Airtel, the group's' flagship
company, has emerged as one of the top telecom companies in the world and is amongst
the top five wireless operators in the world.

Through its global telecom operations Bharti group has presence in 21 countries across
Asia, Africa and Europe - India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Jersey, Guernsey, Seychelles,
Burkina Faso, Chad, Congo Brazzaville, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Ghana,
Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, and
Zambia.

Over the past few years, the group has diversified into emerging business areas in the fast
expanding Indian economy. With a vision to build India's finest conglomerate by 2020
the group has forayed into the retail sector by opening retail stores in multiple formats -
small and medium - as well establishing large scale cash & carry stores to serve
institutional customers and other retailers. The group offers a complete portfolio of
financial services - life insurance, general insurance and asset management - to customers
across India. Bharti also serves customers through its fresh and processed foods business.
The group has growing interests in other areas such as telecom software, real estate,
training and capacity building, and distribution of telecom/IT products.

What sets Bharti apart from the rest is its ability to forge strong partnerships. Over the
years some of biggest names in international business have partnered Bharti. Currently,
Singtel, IBM, Ericsson, Nokia Siemens and Alcatel-Lucent are key partners in telecom.
Walmart is Bharti's partner for its cash & carry venture. Axa Group is the partner for the
financial services business and Del Monte Pacific for the processed foods division.

Bharti strongly believes in giving back to the society and through its philanthropic arm
the Bharti Foundation it is reaching out to over 30,000 underprivileged children and
youth in India.