Annual Report
2015-16

Transformational
Network

Telecommunication today reflects majestic leaps of human imagination, transcending the limits of time and space. The industry is seeing unprecedented progress in terms of innovation and adoption of new technologies that elevate life in so many different ways.

Smartphones are now being used by millions of people across the emerging world, resulting in a huge uptake in new applications and data consumption. Regulatory issues are also being scrutinised to untangle the web of complexities; and create a level playing field for market participants globally.

Against the backdrop of these broad trajectories, we at Bharti Airtel crossed major milestones in almost every aspect of the business.

During the year, we emerged as the world’s third largest mobile operator in terms of subscribers. We bolstered our operating efficiencies, margins and revenue market share significantly in India. We embarked upon our ambitious Project Leap to radically transform our network in India; and undertook one of our largest sites deployment initiatives, rolling out over 87,000 sites.

Not just that, we unveiled India’s first Open Network, setting a new benchmark of transparency for the industry. We are opening up; so that customers can evaluate our capabilities, see our commitment, even partner us in building a truly great network.

We have also had the honour of being India’s first company to receive a payments bank license from the Reserve Bank of India. We are committed to help strengthen financial inclusion, leveraging our deep distribution network across India’s vast terrains.

The year also saw us responding with resilience in challenging African markets, providing opportunities across communities to help Africa realise its full potential. We are also focusing on a viable blueprint to grow our market share, reduce waste and accelerate voice and non-voice businesses across the continent.

Amid an exciting and eventful year, we continued to drive our environmental and sustainability initiatives with passion and diligence.

This is the broad canvas of sweeping transformation that we are delivering to customers and stakeholders, who partner our vision of enriching lives.

Transformation for us is not just evolution in response to shifting global realities. It is a quest for new paradigms, harbours of hope and innovation in a deeply connected and collaborative world.