Bharti Airtel Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal said the combination of Airtel and India presents a “once in a lifetime opportunity” for global corporations, driven by the country’s massive young population, rising digital consumption and growing demand for technology-led services.
Speaking during the company’s earnings call, Mittal said India offers a rare scale opportunity comparable only to what companies previously experienced in China, while global digital platforms such as Meta and Google benefited from worldwide reach.
Africa strategy begins paying off
Mittal said Airtel’s expansion into Africa nearly 15 years ago was a visionary move that is now delivering strong returns for the company.
According to him, Africa today resembles where India stood nearly a decade ago, with a rapidly growing young population and increasing adoption of technology and digital services.
He added that as artificial intelligence and digital technologies become more deeply integrated into everyday life, telecom networks will become increasingly critical in both India and African markets.
Strong market structure supports growth
Mittal highlighted that most African telecom markets operate with only two or three major players, unlike India’s highly competitive telecom landscape.
He said India’s telecom market has already consolidated around three private operators, with two players commanding dominant market positions.
“Airtel and India, as a combination offers a once in a lifetime opportunity to any corporation anywhere in the world, with a billion and a half people hungry for more services and products,” Mittal said during the earnings call.
Company maintains disciplined investment approach
Mittal said Airtel continues to remain disciplined in allocating capital and has avoided entering businesses that do not align with its core strategy.
He noted that the company is currently generating more cash than what is required for its core telecom operations, allowing Airtel to selectively invest in growth areas such as data centres, cloud infrastructure and adjacent digital businesses.
The chairman added that Airtel would continue evaluating new opportunities with a “very strong disciplined lens.”
Airtel cautious on financial services expansion
Mittal said Airtel’s financial services ambitions remain measured and controlled despite growing investor interest in the segment.
He said the company is currently focused on providing small-ticket lending products to its existing customer base, leveraging Airtel’s deep customer understanding and data-driven credit profiling capabilities.
According to Mittal, Airtel has demonstrated strong lending performance over the past two years, with repayment behaviour outperforming several industry benchmarks.
He added that even established financial institutions such as Bajaj Finance have partnered with Airtel under Lending Service Provider (LSP) programmes due to the quality of Airtel’s customer identification capabilities.
Financial services investment may remain lower
Mittal said Airtel had earlier indicated plans to allocate ₹20,000 crore towards financial services over five years, including around ₹14,000 crore from Airtel itself.
However, he indicated that the eventual investment could turn out to be “significantly less” depending on business performance and execution outcomes.
He also clarified that Airtel would not continue deploying capital into businesses that fail to demonstrate clear success metrics within the next one to one-and-a-half years.
Airtel Africa stake increase remains strategic priority
Mittal also spoke about the company’s recent Airtel Africa share exchange transaction, describing it as equivalent to a large acquisition valued at nearly $3 billion.
He said the move increased Airtel’s stake in Airtel Africa to around 78%, while UK regulations permit ownership up to 90%.
Mittal said increasing ownership in Airtel Africa remains a strategic ambition for the company, supported by Airtel Africa’s ongoing share buyback programmes.
“We need to own more of it,” Mittal said, referring to Airtel Africa, adding that the company sees significant long-term value creation opportunities in the region.