Bharti Airtel to make big investments targeting mobile internet business

Firm has so far invested Rs 1.34 lakh cr on telecom business in India, including Rs 94,000 cr on network and IT and Rs 40,000 crore on spectrum

India’s largest private telecom company Bharti Airtel sees the need for massive investments data analytics, spectrum and customer relationship management to ride the next wave of growth encompassing the mobile Internet and the data services.

“We are just about to enter the J-curve of business growth given the opportunities that exist in data and mobile Internet services in the country,”Airtel Global chief financial officer B Srikanth said on Saturday, while hinting at a lot more investments by the company in these specific areas, unlike in the past where physical infrastructure like cell phone towers and the buildings took the priority.

Delivering a keynote address on big data and social media at the annual leadership summit organised by the Indian School of Business (ISB), Srikanth said the company had so far invested Rs 1.34-lakh crore on the telecom business in India and that included Rs 94,000 crore on the network and IT and Rs 40,000 crore on the Spectrum.  “Going forward, we have to do lot more in terms of softer investments,” he said.

As it is just a matter of time before the smart phone prices further come down to Rs 2,000-level, the mobile Internet is going to be the next big opportunity not just for telecom service providers but for every business in the country, he said.

According him, the number of the mobile data users are expected to go up to 500 million and even up to 750 million by 2018 from the present 200 million as the smart phone penetration going up manifold levels from the present 13 per cent.

"Out of Airtel's 400 million customers, only 15 million are 3G users, accounting for just 7 per cent of our total customer base. This means we have barely scratched the surface," he said while stating that mobile internet is the next big opportunity which also requires higher spectrum capacity among other things.

The company revenues had crossed Rs 600 crore in the month of September making its Indian telecom services a billion dollar business annually, according to him.The company has a 23 per cent share in the total number of mobile phone customers in the country and a 31 per cent revenue share while it only holds just 13 per cent of the total spectrum available with the telecom players, he said.

Srikanth, however, refused to give a straight reply to an audience question if the company was worried over the Reliance Jio's entry into 4G services.