Bharti Airtel is ramping up its network as part of its ‘Project Leap’ by adding 26,000 additional sites and 23,000 data-enabled sites by end of the current fiscal to counter any potential threat by Reliance Jio. Bharti, on Monday, unveiled its ‘Project Leap’ website with live information about its network across the country and sought its subscribers’ help to design and install sites needed for telecommunication services.
It said it plans to add 26,000 additional sites over and above its existing 2,44,000 sites. It also plans to add 23,000 data-enabled sites in addition to its 95,000 data-enabled sites on ground, according to the information on its website.
“Under its ambitious Project Leap, Airtel plans to add around 1,60,000 sites in the next three years,” It said in a statement. “The ambitious network transformation project is aimed at meeting the growing demand of voice and high speed data services in India – and helping Airtel deliver the best network experience for its customers now, and for years to come.”
The unveiling of Project Leap website comes a day after Reliance Jio launched its services for its more than 1,00,000 employees before the commercial launch planned later next fiscal that begins April 2016. The Jio services are widely expected to be a potential threat to incumbents Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India, and Idea Cellular, the top three operators, as it aims to offer telecom-to-television services on smartphones at much-below market rates.
On Monday, Bharti’s stock fell 2.14% and closed at Rs 331.15 per share, when the S&P BSE Sensex ended 0.76% higher, indicating that investors subscribed to the view of the potential threat by Jio.
Late last month, Bharti, had announced a Rs 60,000 crore 3-year program called Project Leap to transform its networks and services, signalling that it is geared up to face even higher competition with the imminent entry of Reliance Jio, and to counter the serious challenge of call drops.