Bharti Airtel Becomes World’s Fourth Largest Mobile Network Operator
Bharti Airtel says that it has moved up one notch in the world wide ranking to be the fourth largest mobile operator in the world in terms of subscribers.
At the end of the quarter ended June 2012, the Company had over 250 million mobile subscribers across its operations, representing 13% Y-o-Y growth.
Bharti Airtel had become the fifth largest mobile operator in the world following its acquisition of Zain Group’s mobile operations across 15 African nations in June 2010.
Top Five Operators Globally (Q2 2012)
| Operator | Connections (millions)* | YoY Growth, connections |
| China Mobile | 683.08 | 11 % |
| Vodafone Group | 386.88 | 5 % |
| America Movil Group | 251.83 | 7 % |
| Bharti Airtel | 250.04 | 13 % |
| Telefonica Group | 243.51 | 7 % |
Source: wirelessintelligence.com
*Connections are aggregated as the sum of each group’s subsidiaries where a minimum of 50 % plus one share economic interest is held.