Bharti Airtel forms new telecom entity for big digital push

Bharti Airtel Ltd has announced a new corporate structure that will allow the telco to sharpen its focus on digital assets and unlock value from India’s digital opportunity.

The telco has formed a new subsidiary, Airtel Ltd, which will house all its telecom business. The digital assets, including Wynk Music, Airtel Xstream, Airtel Thanks, Mitra Payments, Airtel Ads, Airtel IQ, Airtel Secure and Airtel Cloud, which were earlier under the Airtel Digital Ltd subsidiary, have been merged with the parent company, it said in an exchange filing.

Bharti Telemedia Ltd, a wholly-owned direct-to-home (DTH) subsidiary of the telco, will continue to operate as a separate entity for now but will eventually be merged with Airtel Ltd, the company said.

“Bharti Telemedia, the 100% arm operating DTH services, will sit alongside Airtel Ltd for now. It is intended to eventually fold the DTH business into Airtel Ltd to move towards the National Digital Communications Policy, 2018, vision of converged services to customers,” the firm said.

The company has sought clarity from the government on licensing policy of telecom and DTH services as they are being regulated and managed under two separate ministries of communications and information and broadcasting, respectively, Airtel said.

Airtel Payments Bank is a digital asset, but will remain a separate entity under the telco and will continue to work closely with the growing customer base. This will help the telco realize the value provided by payments and financial services sector, it said.

The new structure sets the exciting future course for Bharti Airtel and puts focus on four distinct businesses digital, India, international and infra, each in a razor-sharp way,” said Sunil Mittal, chairperson, Bharti Airtel.

The new structure will serve the company in the coming years and is a “win-win” for all stakeholders, Mittal said.

Bharti Airtel’s infrastructure business such as Nxtra Data Ltd and Indus Towers Ltd will function as separate entities in their current form. International subsidiaries and affiliates, including Airtel Africa Plc and Bharti Airtel Lanka (Pvt) Ltd, will continue to operate as separate firms.