Daijiworld Media Network – New Delhi
New Delhi, May 15: Bharti Enterprises chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal on Thursday announced plans to gradually hand over the reins of telecom major Bharti Airtel to the next generation over the coming decade, while also expressing his desire for promoter firm Bharti Telecom to regain majority control in the company.
Speaking during Bharti Airtel’s fourth-quarter earnings call, Mittal said he wants Bharti Telecom’s stake in Airtel to eventually cross the 50 per cent mark.
“If you really ask me, my own wish is that in the next decade, as I come to a point where I hand over the reins to the next generation as shareholders, Bharti Telecom should get back to a controlling shareholding of 51 per cent or just over 50 per cent,” Mittal said.
Bharti Telecom, jointly owned by the Mittal family and Singapore-based Singtel Group, currently holds a 40.47 per cent stake in Airtel. The combined promoter holding in the telecom company presently stands at 48.87 per cent.
Mittal noted that increasing Bharti Telecom’s stake by another 10 per cent would require substantial financial resources, estimated at around ?1 lakh crore based on Airtel’s current market valuation.
Bharti Enterprises Holdings owns 50.56 per cent of Bharti Telecom, while Singtel holds the remaining 49.44 per cent stake.
Mittal also indicated that the increase in promoter shareholding could happen gradually over the next three to four years depending on the company’s performance under its existing leadership team.
The veteran industrialist has two sons and a daughter. His son Shravin Mittal currently serves as managing director of Bharti Global, the international investment arm of Bharti Enterprises, and played a key role in the group’s investment in satellite communications company Eutelsat OneWeb.
His twin brother Kavin Mittal had founded messaging platform Hike, while daughter Eisha Mittal is reportedly involved in lifestyle investments based in London.
Meanwhile, Bharti Airtel also reiterated concerns over India’s telecom pricing structure during the earnings call.
Executive vice-chairman Gopal Vittal said telecom tariffs in India remain disproportionately low despite rising data consumption.
“Fundamentally, at about ?349-?350, you are capped out because you are running unlimited data plans. Nowhere in the world do you see unlimited data capped at these levels,” Vittal said.
He added that unlike markets in Africa, Europe and the United States where higher data usage translates into higher monetisation, India’s pricing model continues to offer unlimited data at comparatively low rates.
Bharti Airtel is currently India’s second-largest telecom operator after Reliance Jio.