Telecom Titan
BECAUSE that signature jingle is like our first password to a whole world, one defined by a consumer base of 390 million and 6 million wired homes. Through tough times, Airtel has more than held its own as India’s second-largest player in mobile telephony and internet services, after Reliance Jio. The first out with 5G, the high-energy Mittal is “feverishly rolling out” pan-India coverage, which he hopes to complete by the end of the next financial year. Expect a tariff war between the two majors once that happens
BECAUSE laser-focused on business, the telecom tycoon constantly wants more. Airtel, with an m-cap of Rs 4.6 lakh crore, has already cannibalised the subscriber base of Tata Tele, Telenor and is now gradually preying on Vodafone’s, alongside the other big raptor, Jio. Its 23.3 million fresh 4G consumers in FY23 go into an equation that’s best in the business: an average revenue per user of Rs 193 for Q3FY23
BECAUSE Airtel has “stopped thinking like just a telecom company”. As befits the times, Mittal’s interests now span a range of sectors—from real estate, education, malls, telecom, insurance, payments, hospitality to agri and food. His views, therefore, matter in all these sectors, and are given serious consideration by peers, policymakers and lawmakers alike LUCKY NUMBER Swears by the number 23. That is his date of birth—October 23, 1957—and also the number on several of his cars. And, yes, this is 2023 too
BECAUSE his Airtel Payments Bank, which he runs in partnership with fellow billionaire Uday Kotak’s
Kotak Mahindra Bank, has amassed a consumer base of over 54 million. He is hoping to list it on the bourses in another two years, when the company turns 10. Want to bet on its value when it turns 23?
BECAUSE Bharti Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Bharti Enterprises, is actively engaged in the field of education. Today, it runs over 170 schools in remote villages across five states under its flagship Satya Bharti School Programme, covering nearly 40,000 students, half of them girls. Meanwhile, it is providing support to another 800 government schools in 11 states as part of the Satya Bharti Quality Support Programme. The foundation is also working in the field of sanitation, having constructed 31,000+ toilets in Ludhiana and Amritsar