New Delhi, (Samajweekly) Bharti Airtel on Wednesday announced a new corporate structure with focus on four verticals — Digital, India, International and Infrastructure.
The new structure envisages Airtel Digital Ltd folding into listed entity, Bharti Airtel. This will now house all of the digital assets spanning Wynk Music, Airtel X stream, Airtel Thanks, Mitra Payments platform used by a million retailers, Airtel Ads, Airtel IQ, Airtel Secure, Airtel Cloud and all future digital products and services, the company said in a statement.
The telecom business of the company will be housed in a newly-created entity, Airtel Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Bharti Airtel. Bharti Telemedia, the 100 per cent arm operating DTH services, will sit alongside Airtel Ltd for now.
The company said that the intension is to eventually fold the DTH business into Airtel Ltd to move towards the NDCP vision of converged services to customers.
Bharti Airtel has moved the government to seek clarity on licensing policy given that carriage — telecom and DTH — is currently being regulated and managed under two separate ministries of Communications and I&B, respectively.
Airtel Payments Bank will remain a separate entity under Bharti Airtel and work closely with the growing customer base to play a pivotal role in realising the digital opportunity that payments and financial services provides.
All of the company’s infrastructure businesses such as Nxtra and Indus Towers will continue to remain separate entities as currently.
The Board, in its meeting held during the day, approved the scheme enabling the company to file for all statutory approvals to give effect to the proposed rearrangement.
Bharti Airtel Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal said: “The new structure sets the exciting future course for Bharti Airtel and provides focus on the four distinct businesses — Digital, India, International and Infrastructure, each, in a razor sharp way.”
“We believe this will provide agility, expertise and operational rigour to serve our customers brilliantly while providing flexibility to unlock value for our shareholders. This structure will serve us well over the coming years and is a win-win for all stakeholders,” he said.
