I am not questioning the ability of Airtel here or trying to compare Airtel and RIL. I wanted to convey that - Airtel is already in telecom, and RIL to enter afresh in a saturated and story over market is hard to understand.
I dont care whether RIL or Airtel makes big in Telecom, because my dear friend if story is not over, then both will make big :) The pie is big enough for Airtel RIL IDea etc etc. but only if story is not over.

Basantji, your thought eagerly awaited..

Originally posted by MR TED I am not questioning the ability of Airtel here or trying to compare Airtel and RIL. I wanted to convey that - Airtel is already in telecom, and RIL to enter afresh in a saturated and story over market is hard to understand. I dont care whether RIL or Airtel makes big in Telecom, because my dear friend if story is not over, then both will make big :) The pie is big enough for Airtel RIL IDea etc etc. but only if story is not over. Basantji, your thought eagerly awaited..

But why do you say that the market is saturated? The Broadband penetration in India is absymal ... just like voice was 5-7years ago. And the convergence opportunity is immense ... definitely big enough to spawn a whole new industry.

Bharti Airtel::Takeaways Motilal Oswal Annual Global Investor Conferences

Key Takeaways
Recent tariff hikes to get reflected in four quarters
 Recent tariff hikes have largely been driven by increasing costs and required
investments in 3G and rural networks.
 The hikes will flow through over four quarters.
 Tariffs would be reviewed to assess the impact on market share and volumes.
 The recent hikes in some 2G data plans are mainly to benchmark them with the
recently introduced 3G data plans.
Upcoming policy to provide level playing field
 License renewal and excess spectrum are the two major regulatory issues.
 While NTP 2011 is keenly awaited for long-term regulatory visibility, it is also expected
to provide a level playing field for all operators.
Revenue market share: Has managed well despite hyper competition
 Bharti has lost ~2% revenue market share over the last two years.
 This is mainly a function of large players like Vodafone and Idea entering new
markets.
Huge opportunity in 3G
 Overall voice penetration currently stands at ~50% and could increase, largely driven
by increasing rural penetration (currently at ~30%).
 Potential 3G user penetration is a large sub-set of voice penetration. The potential
for data usage is very large, given that there are no fixed lines and broadband
penetration is less than 2%. However, this would require an application ecosystem,
rollouts and 3G-enabled handsets at affordable prices.
 Non-3G handsets are likely to be driven out of the market over the next two years.
Africa: Cost reduction a key focus area
 Primary focus for Bharti in Africa is to reduce cost per minute.
 Regulatory and competitive environment is favorable in Africa.
 Bharti is keen to invest and expand its business in Africa at a fast pace but has faced
some logistics challenges, which will keep FY12 capex at USD1.2b.

Conference Call      
          Bharti Airtel
Consolidated capex to be $3.5 billion in FY12


Bharti Airtel held a conference call to discuss the results of Q2 FY12 addressed by Manoj Kohli, CEO (International) & Joint MD along with other members of senior management.
Total Revenues during the quarter stood at Rs 17270 crore or $ 3.8 billion, EBITDA at Rs 5815 crore or $ 1.3 billion. The reported EBITDA margin for the quarter was 33.6%, improved from 33.5% in Q4 FY11. PAT stood at Rs 1215 crore, down 13% q-o-q.
The Consolidated Operating Free Cash Flow for the first three months was at Rs 1086.4 crore.
India MoU declined due to seasonality which was an industry wide phenomenon.
Price increase has been done in all circles. There is no significant negative impact of price increase in terms on usage and full impact in topline will be seen around Q1FY13.
B2B saw 6% q-o-q growth.
There are 7 million 3G customers and around 25-26% are active on a daily basis.
Consolidated tower sharing factor was 1.85 times.
Non voice revenues as % of mobile revenues in Africa constituted 8.5% against 8.4% q-o-q. Customer base grew 21% y-o-y to 48 million, Total minutes increased 40% y-o-y, MoU/sub increased 14% y-o-y, ARPM declined 12% y-o-y, revenues grew 23% y-o-y, EBITDA grew 39% and margins increased by 3% y-o-y and 1% q-o-q. Added around 1000 network sites in Africa in Q2.
The capex in FY12 is expected around $ 1-1.2 billion in Africa, $ 1.9 billion -$ 2 billion in India & South Asia and $ 3.5 billion on consolidated basis.