NEW DELHI: Bharti Airtel Chairman Sunil Mittal on Friday said Airtel will be at the forefront of bringing 5G connectivity to India. In a statement in Airtel’s annual report 2021-22, Mittal noted that Airtel took lead in 5G by testing the network ahead of the competition and became the first operator in India to demonstrate a 5G cloud gaming experience and conduct a successful 700 Mhz band trial for rural connectivity.
“A brilliant experience built over a 5G ready network played an integral part in delivering a robust performance… We can proudly say that Airtel will be at the forefront of bringing 5G connectivity to India with a powerful network that will support India’s digital-first economy,” said Mittal.
Mittal’s comment assumes significance, as the 5G spectrum auction is slated to be held on July 26, 2022. The Department of Telecommunication (DoT) put on a total 72 GHz (gigahertz) of radiowaves worth at least Rs 4.3 lakh crore on auction. Interestingly, this time, along with telecom operators Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea, a new entrant, Gautam Adani’s flagship Adani Enterprise, is also participating in the auction. Analysts believe the entry of Adani Group is going to make the auction fiercer.
Mittal, also highlighted how Airtel outperformed competitors in expanding revenue market share through incremental 4G net-adds. The company added 21.5 million subscribers in the year to cross the 200 million 4G smartphone customer threshold. On the digitisation front, Mittal said Airtel must continue its role in India’s digitisation journey. The telco raised $3.5 billion in equity to add its capacity.
Operationally, Mital added that Airtel pressed the pedal harder to accelerate growth in each business segment – whether it is mobile services, non-mobile or digital. “On the tower's front, given the stabilising industry structure and emerging opportunities related to future 5G rollouts, we expanded our shareholding to ~47.95% in Indus Towers,” added Mittal.
Vodafone Idea appoints new CEO
NewDelhi: Telecom operator Vodafone Idea (VIL) on Friday announced the appointment of Akshaya Moondra as its next chief executive officer (CEO). The company, in a statement, said his tenure, for a period of three years, will begin on August 19. Moondra, who is currently VIL’s chief financial officer, would be replacing Ravinder Takkar as the CEO. Ravinder Takkar was appointed on August 19, 2019, for a term of three years. His tenure will end on August 18. “Akshaya Moondra is well versed with the VIL business and confident he will successfully steer the company,” said Himanshu Kapania, Chairman, VIL.