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over storySunil Mittal

The

Basic facts NAME Sunil Bharti Mittal TITLE Chairman andGroup CEO COMPANY Bharti Enterprises HEADQUARTERS New Delhi


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Indiantiger watch out for his next move

TEXT Nathan Hegedus PHOTO Chris Maluszynski

ITISEASYTO ll wh Sil Mil br jrprj h p ig . I h rly , wh Mi-l w biig hi fir bil ph prj, h vw

b vgri il h l l y w ph.Thr yr lr, Mil r ig .

B Mil, hi vr i vgrii, i phr. Ty Bhri Airl h b illi -

r wh . billi i y, Mil hbil Bhri Airl pr py, Bhri Erpri,i big glr, vrig i rfr l ir, fr ril grilr.

I Ii, Mil rli giv p i -

Mittal says Bharti Airtel may have bene-fited from not being among the first opera-

tors to introduce 3G. Early 3G was poorand expensive, he says. We missed allthat. Now the technology has evolved.


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Background checkSCHOOLS Punjab University, Harvard Business School.

Started bicycle parts factory in hometown of Ludhiana

As background checks go, Mittals is one of the easier because he hashad only one job in his whole career, though that job has involved ahuge variety of things the hallmark of the entrepreneur.

over storySunil Mittal

Mittal foresees consolidation in the Indian mobilesector, as new operators fail to achieve the neces-

sary scale for survival. And, worldwide, con-solidation will also remain more regional.

There are just limited synergies

between continents, he says.

Numbers of wireless subscribers

Number of wireless subscribers

India numbers include GSM, CDMA and WLL-F

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

March

2009

Dec

2008

Dec

2007

Dec

2006

Dec

2005

Dec

2004

Dec

2003

Dec

2002

India

Bharti

Source: Telecom Regulatory Authority of India

Million

10.77

2.77

28.44

5.5

48

9.8

75.9

16.3

149.6

31.2

55.2

233.6

346.9

391.8

85.7

93.9

10.77

2.77

28.44

5.5

48

9.8

75.9

16.3

149.6

31.2

55.2

233.6

346.9

391.8

85.7

93.9

Subscriber numbers for Bharti Airtel and the Indian mobile market as a whole grew bymore than 3000 percent between December, 2002 and March, 2009. The Telecom Regu-latory Authority of India includes GSM, CDMA and WLL (wireless local loop) in its

national wireless market figures, though WLL is not a statistically significant factor inthe markets recent growth.


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l hi wif giv p hl rig

hir hr hilr hl bwh i l i Mil vvy blbw rfl gii f hIi r hi pplii f l- lr fr f priwih frig pi.

Mil i ri i h hr f

Ii plii, wh bil l gii y j pig fr f rliv ili. H i l whlr h vl f lg hr pri-i i Jp, wh pprirg girig high-qliy igi Gry, wh flipp rigr hir h by lig Er-

p pi r hi wr.

Ii i f ybliz by h igr.A h big librliz Iiy h liv p hi big igi r yr, h Bhri Airl, wh lrg bil prr i Ii h hir-lrg il prr i h

wrl.Ty Ii pi r vrig

ff h bi, lig glbl r. Bhri Airl i pi.L yr Mil pr rgr wihp-Afri prr mtn r hlrg l py i h wrl.

Th l fll hrgh, b Mil ri h prwl.We hve ne oel h work n

eergng conre n cn e replce, fyo look or phrekng oel of o-orcng hng lke nework, it n cllcener, he y. An we wn o e .

ITSALLABOUTSCALE

Tl i ll b l, y Mil bigl, l h rr f f illif r.

Th epeclly re n In, whch hhe lowe rff n he worl, ron

usd . per ne. Who cle here,yo rown n loe. An n n lrcope-

ve rke of llon crer ngrowng, Ml h ll he ze he nee,wh percen coer rke hren percen revene rke hre.

I i hw y rviv, Mil y. I ihig b h.

B Mil i r l.H w lvrg i, bh vlpIi fr h ii brig Ii

i h glbl pligh.I , Bhri Airl mtn gr i

priipl wh Mil ll usd bil-li rgr f ql. Th l fll pr

h l i, hig Mil hpf rfrig Bhri Airl, pri py , fr h-grw Ii py r Iiliil l gi, yblizigh pri f Ii.

Al yr lr, h ill l ip-

pi. mtn w gr fi ill i,h y. I l My, fr hi irviww , Mil rp rgrl wih mtn.

Mil y h will i f rgig r fr y fr qii-i bi, hgh h irig by

pibilii i Erp. C grw hir i i Erp whil lwr-ig h riff h i? h . I

w. I h , Mil ii ll pl-

i p y, W w g , hi fr r.

JAPANESELESSONS

Mil i h frh-rih i Ii h ih-rih ceo i h wrl,wih hi fily wrh b usd . bil-li, rig Frb gzi. YMil wl l, qily, hrgh

h hll f Bhri Erpri rlivly rpr hqrr i Nw

Dlhi. H i frily b f, iligily wrig f, wih ir ffiliy h -g rp.

Mil i lf- billiir, hil f iy i h i h lg-

rih f ir rh gi. Th f pliii, h brrw usd r biyl rhf fry i hihw f Lhi, Pjb. H bil big bi iprig grrfr Jp, h h i h i Jph iriliz y p, lrh r f iply i iril r.

The generor ne e when he

governen nne h por, olng oexclve oec lcene ne. He -covere he elecronc phon phone n

Twn n ove no eleco n ; hBhr TeleTech ren he onn n-fcrer of lnlne phone n In.

Mil big br i , whh gvr bg iig li frbil ph rvi, Mil w hbi fr h Dlhi irl. Ohr prrfr i f b, b Mil

pi hi p fr qiii pi wll, lwly libig wr

prfibiliy r i.Ml cre h foregn prner-

hp nl for In ck hen for hcopny cce. Over he yer, he hworke wh Eri, Ni, Seen, bt,at&t, Teleco Il, ibm n Vven,ong oher.

Fr yg py i i wih

h bhh, hy hv hig pil, h y.

O f Mil ri frigv i , wh h ig gr r h f hi -wr ifrrr. I w b ffi-iy, Mil y. Wh w h -wr b? Th frr. Why

hv h r i fr ?Orig llw Bhri Airl

l p vry qily, Mil y, f iribi, br, ivi irvi, lli. H phizh h rig w fr pri-l, fiil, r h ll fh py wr ri h

b.

B h wl i if hy wr ff.Or li gl i g h whr w j by i ff h -wr, wr whih l rv w rhr pi, h y. B h i ill i wy.

THEGAMECHANGER

Fr ll hi ir i h i wrl,Mil i lv pr iIi, bh wihi l i ri

f iiiiv i ril, ir gri-lr.

Wihi l, G i h g hgr,b h wy ppl igh hi,h y. I h us Erp, G will br i rb r. I Ii, Milbliv G will h ip irrl villg, whr Ii rhig pv-

ry i i wr whr Bhri Airlh p , rvi r ir h.

My f h villg hv vr fi li, r y fr f iviy,h y. Thy hv ly b hrgh wirl. Thy brb.

Igi pig hhl pr i

vry villg. I i pwrfl hgh.Evn in India, with its . billin

ppl, th mbil phn markt willplatau. In India w ar sing grwthnw f t prnt, nt prnt,h says. Mittal says that h and hisxutiv tam (whih inluds his twbrthrs; Akhil Gupta, dputy grupceo; and a dzn thr prfssinals)knw tw things wll tlm andIndia but that th tw d nt hav t blinkd.

W hv l i Ii, h

y. B hr i r firpwr, rfiil rr, vilbl b p

Our ultimate goal is to get to the state where we just buy

minutes off the network, a network which could serve two or three

companies. But that is still some time away.


5/614

i hr pr f Ii. W l Iig by.

Mil h lh ri f w -

r-fig bi i h wy hbil hi l pir, wih frig pr-rhip i lg-il -iv i r. Th v rhighligh by prrhip wih h us rilgi Wl-Mr p libr rh Mil hp will rfi Ii ril.

Mil h l p wih axa i lifir g, wihDl M F i grilr.

Mil y h, lily, h i bi-, rprr iry plyr, pliii r p fr Ii. Bh h l ll Bhri Airl Iihpi, h i lrly ryig bil

Ii bi gi, hr l-iil. Thi f il prp pri riv h f hi q pr Ii h wrl ipr hwrl Ii.

I r lvii irviw, Mil w whhr h i ig , b

wh h p, hig big r. I hpp h Mil w vgri girly hi yr, hgh h y h h p-ifi prj i i. Myb hi i i i frh grl g f i! h j.

Mil ig hbi prl rl-i r h rl r fllw BhriErpri. Mil i wrh whig b

i hi v hr i lwy pl ir-ply bw h Ii h iril.H i wrh whig b h ihi v ly g highr, whhr h i

bilig wrlwi l gi r hlpigrfr h Ii ryi.

Many of these villages have never

seen a fixed line, or any form of

connectivity. They have only been

connected through wireless. They

need broadband. Imagine putting

a handheld computerin every

village. It is a powerful thought.

Where do you see yourself a year from now? FOR THE NEXTYEAR I will be strengthening our organizational structure, tak-

ing a clear view on new projects and their trajectory.

What about in 10 years? IN YEARS, I expect the Group to be a successful conglomerate. I have no

doubt that Bharti will have internationalized itself within that period and,

therefore, I will have spent a lot of time looking at overseas businesses.A founder remains a founder, and whatever job one ends up doing, one is

more or less in the same position as the head of the Group. The good newson our front is that we have professionalized our business to a point where

it is easy to separate shareholder and managerial responsibility.


6/6 15

Sunil Mittalcover story

A young marketThe most important thing toknow about the Indian economy

is that it is young, says Sunil Mit-

tal, the chairman of Bharti Enter-

prises.

FORDECADES fr Ii ip fr h uk, hgvr p rlrgly l, hig liv li h fw glr hir

lr vry rih, h hr li rj.

THE GOVERNMENTbgan lsn-ing rstritins nly in tharly s, and sin thnIndia has bmd, transfrm-ing quikly int an nmipwrhus with a trillin-dl-lar nmy. And vn in adp wrldwid rssin,Indian mpanis hav startdlking bynd th subnti-

nnt, aquiring mpanis in

bth mrging and mr dvl-pd markts.

Ii i lgr lpybwr, y Mil, whbil Ii i bil

prr, Bhri Airl, frrh. Cpi hvvlv wih high rprgvr ig-ghlgy rvi. Thyhv vlp ill i Ii, w i h i g ,

Erp Ari -pi b vilbl, p-illy b r li -frig rvir pri lw qir.

YET ONTHE hr h, h p-ig f h i yh i b r--p ffir, wih y ill pr-ivig i wh lhp r by gig pr-

ii lii frig

iv ipr.

Ml y h percep-on, h only hnfl of ec-or ch rel, nrnce,efene n nkng renhghly regle. Mny conre

ron he worl ll rercforegn nvolveen n heere, he y, n frher loo-enng of rercon on hegen of he governen.

MOSTOFTHE y i p,

h y. Y j i p hp r pr-ig.

B Mil y h h ipr hig rbrb Ii i, gi, yh.

Ii i ry f . bil-li wih pr f h pp-li r yr f g,h y. I i i f -

r. A h wrl rggl fi grwh, Ii i lyrgglig rgi .

Th grwh i hr.

209 cover story

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