Bharti Airtel is now the fourth largest telecom firm in the world having moved up one spot in last year’s international rankings.
According to data from mobile telephony researcher, Wireless Intelligence, Airtel had 250 million subscriptions in the second quarter of 2012.
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.
Despite this, the company’s revenue during the quarter did not even breach the top ten and trailed behind companies that were ranked only in the top 20 in terms of subscriber base.
The firm made about Sh260 billion (USD3.04 billion) during the quarter. This is in sharp contrast with the top ranked firm by subscribers and revenue, China Mobile, which made about Sh1.88 trillion (USD22.05 billion).
“Bharti’s USD3.04 billion in mobile revenue in Q2, 2012 is significantly lower than the four other operators in the top five, reflecting Bharti’s presence in the ultra-low-cost, low-margin Indian and African markets,” read a statement from Wireless Intelligence.
In August, Bharti Airtel’s financial results indicated that profits had declined for 10 straight quarters with increasing competition in India. The firm’s shares also hit their lowest level in two years.
The company has been pursuing a low-cost strategy that is supposed to be balanced out by high subscriber numbers.
However, earlier this year, executives from the company indicated that they would scrap the low-cost strategy in Africa because it was not producing desired results.
Wireless Intelligence ranks the Vodafone Group as the second largest mobile firm by subscriber numbers and fourth largest in terms of revenue.
The firm had 387 million subscribers in the quarter under review and made Sh1.18 trillion(USD13.92 billion). The company has a 40 per cent stake in local telecom firm Safaricom.
France Telecom, majority owner of Telkom Kenya, returned to the top 20 after dropping out of the list a year ago.
Fluctuations in the firm’s ranking have been attributed to “an on-going group strategy of disposing non-core or minority assets.”
It has increased its holdings in Polant and Egypt while acquiring 100 per cent of Congo Chine Telecom.
Chinese companies continued to dominate with all three major telecoms in the country making it into the top ten.
American market leader, Verizon Wireless, came in position 16 while its competitor AT&T was ranked in position 18.
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