Bharti Airtel's Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Gopal Vittal, recently shared key insights during the Fourth Quarter Ended March 31, 2023 Earnings Webinar. The earnings call focused on the company's performance for the full year 2023. Vittal highlighted five critical areas where Bharti Airtel is well positioned for success. He shed light on the company's robust positioning and growth prospects for the future.
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Strong Portfolio
Firstly, he emphasized the strength of Bharti Airtel's portfolio, with Africa accounting for 31 percent of its overall portfolio and demonstrating consistent growth. In India, the wireless segment constitutes 54 percent of the portfolio, presenting ample opportunities for smartphone upgrades and tariff adjustments. The remaining 25 percent is represented by the homes and enterprise business, which is witnessing momentum due to structural changes in the market, such as the growth of broadband, convergence, and increased digitalization of businesses. To further reinforce its portfolio, Bharti Airtel plans to step up investments in alignment with the areas of growth.
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Focus on Quality Customers
Secondly, Bharti Airtel's strategic focus on quality customers was discussed. Vittal specifically highlighted two geographic segments - the rural areas and the top 150 cities in India. The company aims to expand into approximately 60,000 high-potential villages to capture a greater share of 4G net additions, leading to a record revenue market share of nearly 39 percent. Moreover, the top 150 cities, accounting for 40 percent of the telecom market, present significant growth prospects. Bharti Airtel aims to win these cities by leveraging its strong network, distribution channels, and digital tools.
Obsession with Customer Experience
The third critical area highlighted by Vittal is Bharti Airtel's relentless pursuit of delivering an exceptional customer experience. The company has renewed its focus on improving customer interactions by reducing faults and enhancing understanding. To achieve this, Bharti Airtel has developed four critical platforms - buy, build, pay, and serve - which cover various customer touchpoints such as call centres, stores, web, app, and social media. These platforms are supported by a unified data layer, ensuring seamless and consistent customer experiences. Bharti Airtel has set up 5G Experience Zones throughout India for customers to experience the potential of Airtel 5G Plus.
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Building Digital Businesses
Fourthly, Bharti Airtel is actively building its digital businesses by leveraging its strong platform. The company operates across three layers: digital infrastructure, digital experience, and digital services. Its digital services encompass CPaaS, Airtel IQ, cloud, SD-WAN, and ads. Notably, the ads business is being repositioned to prioritize Airtel finance. Through strategic partnerships with Axis Bank and NBFCs, Bharti Airtel offers loans and credit cards to customers via the Airtel Thanks App. The early success of Airtel Finance is evident, with over 2.8 lakh customers served and an annualized lending run rate of around Rs 1200 Crores.
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War on Waste
Lastly, Bharti Airtel has launched a renewed "War on Waste" program to drive efficiency and cost savings. The program focuses on network costs, sales costs, capex optimization, and reducing failures and interactions. By relocating high-cost sites, streamlining sales channels, halting 4G capacity investments, and enhancing operational efficiency, Bharti Airtel aims to deliver improved performance and cost control.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Bharti Airtel's CEO, Gopal Vittal, expressed satisfaction with the company's performance as they closed the year, highlighting share gains across their businesses.
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With a focus on executing a simple and cohesive strategy, Bharti Airtel is building a future-proof organization that capitalizes on its strengths and leverages digital transformation to provide an exceptional customer experience.
