Thanks to the intensified price war, the largest telecom operator in India has also been affected by this irrational market game and has thus joined the fray. But, in the long run, it may not cause much damage to Airtel, as it is well-guarded with strong brand and solid fundamentals.

Bharti Airtel is India's largest telecommunications service provider with a presence in all the 22 circles in India and Sri Lanka and enjoys a subscriber base of more than 110 million as of September 2009. Since its inception in 1995, Bharti Airtel has been at the forefront of technology and has been the vanguard of several innovations in the telecom sector. Now, globally, Bharti Airtel is the third largest in-country mobile operator by subscriber, behind China Mobile and China Unicom. In India, the company has a 24.6% share of the wireless services market, whereas the second and the third slots are occupied by Reliance Communications and Vodafone Essar respectively with market shares of 17.7% and 17.4%. In The Analyst's ranking of the top 500 Indian companies for FY2008-09 based on net sales, Bharti Airtel has topped the charts in telecommunications services segment. With net sales of Rs 34,387.92 cr for FY2008-09, up by 33.16% from that of FY2007-08, it ranked 13^th in the overall list, whereas in FY2007-08, it ranked 14^th. For FY2008-09, its profit after tax (PAT) has also increased by 24.02% and touched Rs 7,743.84 cr. In our analysis, Anil Ambani-promoted Reliance Communications Limited grabbed the second place in the telecom sector with net sales of Rs 14,788.76 cr. In the overall ranking, Reliance Communications slipped to 32^nd position from 29^th in FY2007-08.

The success of Airtel lies in its strong business model and its successful implementation. Even the dreadful global recession could not hold back Airtel much. With its farsighted strategy, backed by its unparalleled ability to innovate constantly, Airtel has been consolidating its number one position in the fastest growing telecom market in the world and continuously setting industry benchmarks. But the current tariff war among the mobile operators in India over the past four months, which has had a major impact on both the profits and revenues of the telecom sector, has impacted Airtel too.

The Analyst Magazine, Bharti Airtel, Telecommunications Services Segment, Profit After Tax, PAT, Global Recession, Average Revenue Per User, ARPU, Capital Expenditure, Economic Prospects, Potential Growth , Telemedia Segment, Telecom Regulators, Rural Markets, Telecom Growth.