Leading telecom service provider Bharti Airtel is set to roll out its telecom passive infrastructure services company in Africa within the next few months. In order to strengthen its penetration within Africa, the company?s CEO (international) and joint MD Manoj Kohli told FE that Bharti will look at rolling out its passive infrastructure services shortly. At present, the company is undertaking various processes including registration, staffing and is waiting for legal approvals which should take another few months, Kohli said. Bharti Airtel is also looking at expanding its presence in more African nations, he said.
In African sub-continent, Airtel is facing competition from MTN and enjoys second position in the telecom market with its presence in 16 countries. It recently announced addition of Rawanda as the 17th country in its portfolio.
Denying media reports that the mobile network operator is in negotiations with a number of operators regarding sharing telecom infrastructure in Africa, Kohli said, ?We have not decided on a joint venture and there are no plans on JV as on date.? According to the reports, the companies whom Bharti was expected to be in talks with were UAE-based Etisalat, South Africa?s MTN, France Telecom, UK mobile giant Vodafone and Luxembourg?s Millicom.
Kohli also added that once the tower company is in place it will definitely improve the cost efficiency of the company in Africa. Reasoning it out Kohli said ?since the towers will be built, and it will be a share tower format, the fuel cost comes down and the cost of tower comes down. So we definitely are looking at cost efficiency.?
Meanwhile, Kohli said that the company will soon bring in its existing business model of India into Africa by introducing its business partners like Nokia, Ericsson, Huwaei and many others. ?We are extremely satisfied with our African acquisition and our first year has been the year of learning. Before we go ahead with a great speed we have to learn, we have to bring in our business model, bring in all our business partners like Nokia, Ericsson, Huwaei and many others. We are on track with our expectations of achieving $5-billion revenue and $2-billion ebitda here by 2013,? he said.
He also said that the company?s customer base is also witnessing a substantial addition in the last one year. ?We have added a couple of percentage points of revenue market share which really proves that customer is liking our brand,? he added.
When asked if the company is looking at hiking tariffs in the continent he said that since tariffs are country-based every country has its own tariff structure and if the company finds opportunity, it will increase tariffs in some places.
Kohli also confirmed that Airtel will be making a capex of $1-1.2 billion in this financial year, but for next year. ?We have not decided what kind of investment will be made this year. I am sure, it should be up to $1.2 billion,? he added.
