Bharti Airtel second most valuable mobile operator in emerging Asia

At its current market capitalisation of around $41 billion, Airtel is behind China Mobile whose valuation is $175 billion

Bharti Airtel has emerged as the second most valuable mobile operator among emerging markets in Asia behind China Mobile, thanks to a surge in its share price and equity expansion in the past one year.

At its current market capitalisation (m-cap) of around $41 billion, Airtel is ahead of Emirates Telecom, Telekom Indonesia and China Unicom. China Mobile remains Asia's top mobile operator with m-cap of $175 billion, according to data from Bloomberg.

Including Japan, which is a developed market, Airtel is the fifth most valuable mobile operator on the continent behind China Mobile, NTT, NTT Docomo, and KDDI Corp. Last year,