Bharti pips global telcos in offering cheaper calls

MUMBAI: Bharti Airtel has trumped global operators in providing cheaper calls to its subscribers and has latched on to the position of the fifth-largest wireless telco globally, ahead of carriers like Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile (USA) and Latin American major America Movil in being the lowest-cost producer of mobile minutes.
The company is way ahead of its global competitors by providing lowest cost per minute of usage.China Mobile claimed the numero uno position in a recent research report, with 726 billion mobile minutes, followed by Verizon with 226 billion mobile minutes, during the April-June 2009 quarter. AT&T came up third with 166 billion mobile minutes, while Vodafone was in fourth place with 156 billion mobile minutes during the same period.
Comparing favourably with global telecom giants, Bharti carried 141 billion mobile minutes on its network, almost twice that of Vodafone Essar, which is not listed in India.
According to analysts at Macquarie Research, ������The lowest-cost producer of voice minutes globally ensures a superlative cost structure, which is a key hurdle for challengers and greenfield telcos.������
Stating that Bharti Airtel compares favourably with global telecom giants, analysts have said that the Delhi company carried a total of 140.7 billion voice minutes on its network in 1Q from a single country operation, compared to Vodafone���s total network minutes of 143.6 billion, generated from its operations spanning 30 countries.
������This highlights the scale that Bharti has built in its India business, which has led to a global-sized minutes factory and a resultant cost structure that, in our opinion, is best-in-class globally,������ it said.
Other greenfield entrants in the sector are said to lack Bharti���s scale advantage. ������Bharti���s extensive distribution reach gives it an edge over its existing competitors as well as new entrants in terms of subscriber addition capability and customer service,������ states the report. Despite Reliance Communications���s freebie offer in January-March 2009, Bharti Airtel registered sequential growth of 6% in mobile network minutes.