Airtel's Big Test Starting now, India's top telecom company will have to figure out two things: First, how to keep friend-turned-foe Vodafone from wresting the #1 slot from it. Second, how to do so without Sunil Bharti Mittal at its helm.

Business Today, April, 2007 by Kushan Mitra

When Sunil Bharti Mittal gets some time, he watches TV. Just like you and me? Well, not exactly. He actually tries out Airtel's pilot project for internet protocol television (IPTV) that his company has been quietly testing out in a few select neighbourhoods outside Delhi. "I'm still far from happy with it," he says-an indication that the team at Bharti Airtel will need to improve on it before they get the boss's approval for a commercial launch of the IPTV service.

That kind of involvement is natural to expect from someone who's built his Rs 18,000-crore telecom business from the ground up in 12 years flat. Airtel boasts a subscriber base of 35 million, accounting for a market share of 22 per cent. By 2010, Mittal expects a subscriber base of over 100 million. The market...

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