Bharti Airtel has emerged as the world’s second-largest telecom operator by customer base, after crossing the milestone of 650 million customers. "India’s only telco to achieve this landmark, backed by customer obsession and a world-class digital network," the company highlighted. "According to GSMA Intelligence, Bharti Airtel is ranked second globally by mobile customer base, with operations spread across India and Africa," Airtel said in an exchange filing dated April 2, 2026.
Leadership Commentary
Commenting on this milestone, Gopal Vittal, Executive Vice Chairman of Bharti Airtel, said:
“Achieving the milestone of 650 million customers to be the second largest operator globally is a great responsibility for us to serve our customers better every day.
This is why we invest in state-of-the-art technologies to not only provide connectivity but to also deliver a safe network.
Our purpose is clear: as we deepen and expand our presence, we will strive to raise the bar on innovation, reliability, and experience so that every customer interaction is an opportunity to earn trust and deliver value connection.”
Airtel said its ranking as the second-largest telecom operator by mobile customer base underscores a sustained improvement in its global standing.
In its official release, Airtel highlighted its digital services and infrastructure capabilities across its markets of operation:
India
"Serving over 368 million mobile customers, Airtel was the first to launch 5G Plus services, which now anchor a converged ecosystem including Xstream AirFiber (FWA) and an integrated IPTV service. Airtel now serves over 13 million homes with high-speed internet services and over 15 million through our Digital TV offering. This 'customer-obsessed' innovation is supported by the world’s first network-based AI spam protection solution.
Airtel Business offers mission-critical solutions to enterprise customers. These span across Airtel IQ, cybersecurity, SD-WAN, cloud, managed services, and IoT, in addition to secure connectivity. These offerings are powered by an expansive network of over 400,000 route kms of subsea fiber and Nxtra's green data centers, which sustainably support the nation’s rising AI and digital workloads."
Airtel's Foray into NBFC
Furthering its digital services, Airtel said it has recently announced its foray into the NBFC (Non-Banking Financial Company) space, leveraging its data insights to offer personalized credit and financial products through the Airtel app.
In February, Airtel announced major plans for its NBFC, Airtel Money Limited, underscoring its commitment to narrow the credit gap in India.
"The NBFC subsidiary will be capitalised with Rs 20,000 crore to be injected over the next few years. Airtel will contribute 70% with the promoter group via Bhar Enterprises Limited, bringing in the balance 30%," the company said in an exchange filing dated February 23, 2026.
"With strong digital assets, a large data and analytics engine powered by over 500 data scientists, and deep operational expertise, Airtel said it aims to rapidly expand access to simple, secure, and innovative digital financial services across India."
Airtel said it has built a high-performance credit engine over the last two years, powered by its digital platform and deeply integrated channels, resulting in one of India’s strongest lending service provider (LSP) models.
"The platform has already achieved hyperscale adoption with over Rs 9,000 crore in disbursements - supported by best-in-class delinquency outcomes, driven by robust underwriting models, disciplined portfolio management, and real-time risk monitoring," Airtel said.
“The success of our LSP platform over the past two years is proof of our ability to combine technology, data, and customer trust to deliver impact at a national scale. We have built one of India’s most trusted and scalable digital credit engines—reaching millions with high-quality credit supported by industry-best performance metrics,” said Gopal Vittal.
“Our NBFC expansion strengthens this foundation and reflects our ambition to build a differentiated, future-ready digital lending business - one that stands for trust, innovation, and financial inclusion.”
Airtel Money received its NBFC license from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on February 13, 2026.
Airtel said this strategic expansion in India’s fast-growing financial services sector underscores its commitment to deepening financial inclusion and empowering underserved consumers. The formal credit to GDP ratio in India is at 53%, according to Care Edge Ratings, highlighting the scope for lending in the country.
The company added that the disbursement journey of the NBFC will be seamlessly integrated with the LSP platform, while maintaining clear operational segregation between the two, giving the customer a best-in-class experience. "By combining technology, data, and customer understanding at scale, Airtel aims to set a new benchmark for digital financial services in India."
Airtel Africa
"With a base of over 179 million customers across 14 countries, Airtel Africa provides a vital digital lifeline through integrated mobile voice, high-speed data, and international roaming services. The core of its regional strategy is Airtel Money, a transformative mobile financial platform with over 52 million customers, which drives financial inclusion by providing banking and instant payments to millions of previously unbanked users across the continent,” the company said.
Global Space & Connectivity
Airtel said beyond its regional hubs, the company is bridging the digital divide through strategic partnership with Eutelsat OneWeb and SpaceX, utilizing a constellation of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites to deliver high-speed, low-latency broadband to the most remote maritime, aviation, and rural areas.
Airtel’s USD 1 Billion Investment in Nxtra
On March 30, 2026, Airtel announced an investment of USD 1 billion by Alpha Wave Global, Carlyle and Anchorage Capital, through their affiliates, in Nxtra Data Limited (Nxtra), a subsidiary of Bharti Airtel engaged in the data center business, to expand its network across India and accelerate growth. Airtel will also participate in this round, the company said in an exchange filing.
As part of the agreement, Alpha Wave Global will invest USD 435 million, Carlyle USD 240 million, and Anchorage Capital USD 35 million, with the remainder to be infused by Airtel. "The investors’ final shareholding will be subject to finalized post-closing adjustments. Airtel will continue to retain a controlling stake in Nxtra. The deal is subject to regulatory approvals in India," the official release said.
"According to a Savills India report, India’s data center market is expected to grow at a CAGR of around 21% between 2024 and 2030 to reach nearly 3,400 MW of IT capacity," Airtel said in its release, highlighting the potential of the data center business.
“At Nxtra, we have built one of India’s most advanced and sustainable data center networks, designed to meet the evolving needs of enterprises, hyperscalers, and government. With around 300 MW capacity today, we aim to scale to 1 GW in the next few years, targeting around 25% market share,” Gopal Vittal said.
“We have built a strong partnership with Airtel and continue to believe Nxtra is well-positioned to benefit from India’s long-term digital infrastructure tailwinds. The company has made significant progress in expanding its capabilities, strengthening customer relationships and building a scalable platform, and we look forward to further working with Airtel and Nxtra’s management team to build the company into one of the largest datacenter players in India," said Kapil Modi, Partner at Carlyle India Advisors.
Rick Gerson, Co-Founder and CIO, Alpha Wave Global, said, "Alpha Wave has a particular focus on identifying and backing AI-first businesses including Anthropic, OpenAI, Cerebras, SpaceX, X.ai, Ramp, Cognition and Long Lake Management. We are excited to partner with Mr. Sunil Mittal and the Bharti Group — a franchise defined by outstanding leadership and a remarkable track record of executing at scale alongside institutional investors - as Nxtra scales to become India's leading data center business."
Navroz D. Udwadia, Co-Founder, Alpha Wave Global, added, "India has an immense AI opportunity ahead of it — Indians already meaningfully interact with and on Chat GPT, Claude and other AI platforms. As such India is set to see its data center capacity grow meaningfully to keep up with hyperscaler and LLM demand."
Nxtra
Nxtra operates 14 large core data centers and over 120 edge facilities across India, offering colocation, cloud infrastructure, managed hosting, data backup, disaster recovery, and edge computing services. It has a state-of-the-art facility in Pune and is developing additional AI-ready campuses in Chennai, Mumbai, and Kolkata. Nxtra has recently partnered with Google to build a gigawatt-scale AI data center campus, backed by a USD 15 billion investment.
Airtel Expands 5G Network Across Gujarat
On March 23, Airtel announced that it had deployed more than 2,750 new 5G sites across Gujarat over the past 12 months, delivering faster speeds, wider coverage, and a significantly improved network experience.
According to Airtel, the company’s network expansion across 36 districts now brings dependable, high-speed coverage to over 41 million customers in bustling cities, fast-growing towns and even remote rural villages. “With eight new sites going live every day, customers can count on smoother streaming, faster downloads, uninterrupted online work and learning, and more reliable digital payments—no matter where they live or travel.”
Airtel said customers in key districts, including Ahmedabad, Baroda, Rajkot, Surat, and several others, will directly benefit from this enhanced footprint. The expanded coverage will enable seamless access to high-speed 5G services, supporting the everyday digital needs of citizens, students, micro-businesses and government institutions, among others.
“Data consumption across Gujarat continues to grow rapidly, and our focus is to stay ahead of this demand by consistently strengthening our network. The addition of over 2,750 new 5G sites across the state will deliver faster speeds, wider coverage and a superior connectivity experience for millions of customers. At Airtel, we remain committed to powering Gujarat’s digital growth with a robust and future-ready network,” said Adarsh Verma, CEO – Gujarat, Bharti Airtel.
