Bharti Enterprises

Bharti Enterprises is a pioneer in telecom sector and the group is widening its horizons by entering new business areas such as insurance and retail. Bharti Enterprises has created a vantage position for itself in the global telecommunications sector. Bharti Airtel Limited occupies numero uno status in mobile telephony in India while its brand 'Beetel' is the largest manufacturer and exporter of world class telecom terminals.

Founder of Bharti Group is Sunil Mittal. In 1983, Sunil Mittal entered into an agreement with Germany's Siemens to manufacture the company's push-button telephone models for the Indian market. In 1986, Sunil Bharti Mittal incorporated Bharti Telecom Limited (BTL) and his company became the first in India to offer push-button telephones, establishing the basis of Bharti Enterprises. This first-mover advantage allowed Sunil Mittal to expand his manufacturing capacity elsewhere in the telecommunications market. By the early 1990s, Sunil Mittal had also launched the country's first fax machines and its first cordless telephones. In 1992, Sunil Mittal won a bid to build a cellular phone network in Delhi. In 1995, Sunil Mittal incorporated the cellular operations as Bharti Tele-Ventures and launched service in Delhi. In 1996, cellular service was extended to Himachal Pradesh. In 1999, Bharti Enterprises acquired control of JT Holdings, and extended cellular operations to Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. In 2000, Bharti acquired control of Skycell Communications, in Chennai. In 2001, the company acquired control of Spice Cell in Calcutta. Bharti Enterprises went public in 2002, and the company was listed on Mumbai Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange of India. In 2003, the cellular phone operations were rebranded under the single AirTel brand. In 2004, Bharti acquired control of Hexacom and entered Rajasthan. In 2005, Bharti extended its network to Andaman and Nicobar. Today, Airtel is the laegest cellular service provider in India.

Companies of Bharti Enterprises

Bharti Airtel: Bharti Airtel is India's leading provider of telecommunications services. The company provides GSM mobile services across India in 23 telecom circles and broadband & telephone services in 90 cities.

Bharti Teletech Ltd.: Bharti TeleTech manufactures and exports world-class telecom equipment under the brand Beetel'. It is the only Indian telephone company to be present in 30 countries mapping 5 continents. The company's product range include Basic Telephones, Caller ID Phones, Caller ID Boxes, Cordless Phones, 2.4 GHz Digital Cordless Phones, DECT 1.8 GHz Phones, and Set Top Boxes.

Telecom Seychelles Ltd: Telecom Seychelles Ltd provides comprehensive telecom services including GSM Cellular, PSTN (Fixed Lines), Fax and Data, International Roaming, connectivity to Internet Services, Maritime Telecom Services (INMARSAT) and International Collect and Credit Card calling, in Seychelles, under the brand 'Airtel.

Bharti Telesoft Ltd: Bharti Telesoft Ltd provides value added services and solutions to wireless and wireline carriers worldwide. Bharti Telesoft Ltd ha deployed products and solutions in 25 countries to over 100 network, and has a customer base of 150 million across 5 continents.

TeleTech Services (India) Ltd: TeleTech Services (India) Ltd is a joint venture between TeleTech Holdings, Inc., world's leading full-service provider of business process outsourcing and Bharti TeleTech Ltd. The company offers offer the entire spectrum of front-to-back-office business processes ranging from voice and non-voice customer support, back office administration (including credit and collections, account maintenance, application processing, claims processing, asset management, document management etc.), sales and marketing (including database marketing, marketing support, web sales and marketing etc.) to global customers.

FieldFresh Foods Pvt Ltd: FieldFresh Foods (P) Ltd is an equal partnership venture between Bharti Enterprises and ELRo Holdings India Ltd, an investment company of the Rothschild family. The company provides premium quality fresh produce to the markets worldwide and promotes world class standards for agricultural practices, progressive farming techniques & identification and adoption of appropriate technologies.

Bharti Retail Pvt Ltd: Bharti Retail Pvt Ltd. is a 100% subsidiary of Bharti Enterprises. Bharti Retail is planning to launch its retail outlets in multiple consumer friendly formats in several cities across India.

Note: The above information was last updated on 21-07-2007