The In-depth SWOT Analysis of Bharti Airtel- 2022
Bharti Airtel has become a household name in India. From just being a telecom provider to growing into a multi-national company operating in South Asia, Africa, and the Channel Islands, Bharti Airtel is among the 3 largest telecom operators in the world.
This company now has a customer base: 283.7 million mobile services, 16.6 million Digital TV Services, and 2.4 million homes. By the end of 2020, this telecom giant had around 440 million customers, and this number is only growing.
So, what is the secret behind Airtel's story? How has this telecom and internet service provider become the first choice for many customers in India and other Asian countries? Let's take a brief look at Airtel's SWOT Analysis.
Airtel Company Overview
Established in 1986 by Sunil Bharti Mittal, Airtel was the first to provide push-button telephones in India. This was at a time when the rest of the country still had to make a call by dragging each number on the finger wheel of a rotary phone.
Later, the company launched various telecom technologies in the Indian market, intending to constantly innovate. Very soon after, Airtel acquired a license to build a cellular network in Delhi in 1992. During this time, the company began its telecom operations as Bharti Tele-Ventures. The service was eventually branched out to other states by various acquisitions and partnerships.
Once they established a substantial presence across the country, the founder decided to rebrand all mobile telecom ventures under a single brand named Airtel in 2003. Since then, Airtel has started its journey to becoming India's largest mobile operator focusing on everyday innovation.
Thanks to its cutting edge strategies, acquisition of regional operators, and rebranding all operations under one umbrella, Airtel has managed to stay ahead of its competitors almost always. Currently, the Bharti Airtel share price target is at Rs 685.8, as per Economic Times.
One of the points that sets this brand apart is its "minute factory" business model. Airtel's focus has always been to aim low cost and high volume output in this model. Airtel has outsourced daily operations and retained core functions like finance, sales, marketing, and management to run this business model efficiently.
Top Airtel's Competitors in India
Even though Airtel is one of India's top internet and telecom service providers, a few other companies are giving it tough competition. A few of them include:
SWOT Analysis for Airtel
Now, let's take a closer look at our SWOT analysis for Airtel's strengths and weaknesses and its plan for the future.
| Strengths | Weaknesses | Opportunities | Threats |
|---|---|---|---|
| Advertising | Outsourcing Operations | New product development | Jio 5G |
| Customer Base | High Debt | Untapped scope of the current market | Government Regulatory Framework |
| Extensive infrastructure | Slow To Launch New Services | 5G | Competition |
| Vast List of Services | Poor Financial planning | _ | MNP(Mobile Number Portability) |
SWOT Analysis of Airtel In Detail
Strengths of Airtel
Advertising
Almost every brand tries to advertise in a way that can have a lasting impact on its audience. And Airtel is a company that has nailed it with its advertising and marketing strategies. Airtel released a TV commercial with AR Rahman, and the tune is still rooted in most of us even today. Since then, the brand has never failed to create a lasting impact with its ads, whether on TV or social media.
Customer Base
Airtel has around 352 million subscribers in India. Additionally, it has an international submarine cable system connecting India to Singapore. This company has also established a solid customer base in Srilanka, Bangladesh, and Africa.
Extensive infrastructure
Airtel has never shied away from taking significant steps to increase its customer base. Whether it is the partnership with Idea and Vodafone to build the Indus Towers or even the acquisition of regional telecom operators, Airtel always has focused on expanding its infrastructure across the country.
Vast List of Services
Although Airtel started out as a telecom service provider, its services are not limited to 2G, 3G, and 4G wireless services, mobile commerce, fixed line services, high-speed DSL broadband, IPTV, and Digital TV. This company's latest offering is Airtel XStream, an OTT platform for you to watch various web series, movies, short films, and more.
Weakness of Airtel
These are a few areas which can be improved by Airtel:
Outsourcing Operations
We read earlier that Airtel outsources most of its operations to maintain a low cost. However, outsourcing to other companies also means that the company is at risk of being dependent on some third-party for its final output, which may not be in its control.
High Debt
This year, Airtel Bharti Airtel Limited reported a net debt of about 934 billion Indian rupees. A few of the causes of being under such a huge debt is their acquisitions have been turning out to be bad investments, high credit, and low margins.
Slow To Launch New Services
Yes, Airtel offers its customers more than just telecom services. However, there are gaps in the product range sold by the company. Although this company is launching new products, it is rarely before its competitors.
Poor Financial planning
Airtel has a lot more scope for proper planning. The current asset ratio and liquid asset ratios indicate that this company can use the cash more efficiently.
Opportunities for Airtel
To continue being the top telecom provider in India and neighboring countries, these are a few opportunities Airtel can tap on.
New product development
Since consumer behavior is constantly evolving, it opens doors to new markets too. Airtel can use this opportunity to build new revenue streams and consider launching \new product categories.
Untapped scope of the current market
Airtel currently provides 4G coverage. But this is not available in rural areas. Hence, the company can focus on developing infrastructure in such areas and provide better connectivity, achieve higher profits, and eventually increase its customers.
5G
5G and LTE is already available in most countries abroad but has started only recently in India. On 25 November 2021, Airtel conducted a 5G trial in the 700 MHz band in partnership with Nokia. With this move, we are confident that Airtel has already identified this opportunity and is spearheading 5G in India.
Threats to Airtel
Mentioned below are a few reasons that can decrease the market share for Airtel and eventually decrease the number of customers.
Jio 5G
Airtel has just ventured into this service, and Jio has been two steps ahead. This network service provider is offering faster network services and better 5G Technology. Recently, the audience has been leaning more towards Jio Fibre, owing to its low pricing and the amazing internet speed with no fluctuations.
Government Regulatory Framework
Due to change in government policies in different countries and auctioning of the spectrum, Airtel can be exposed to liability claims.
Competition
Airtel is not the only internet and telecom service provider in the market. Today, the competition has become so fierce that every provider has to constantly innovate to increase and retail its customer base. A few years ago, Reliance Jio had started offering free data and calling. This led to a huge disruption in the telecom sector, forcing other companies to either reduce their prices or lose their customers.
MNP(Mobile Number Portability)
MNP allows you to change your service provider while keeping the same mobile number. Since there are other service providers offering much more affordable data plans as compared to Airtel prepaid plans, it is at a huge risk of losing its customers, switching for cheaper service alternatives.
By now, we hope you have a better understanding of where Airtel stands, how it can improve, and its risks. Let's summarize these points below:
Key Takeaways
This SWOT analysis has helped us understand how Airtel broadband can still hold its position of being amongst the top three telecom service providers in the country. Airtel has been in the market for more than two decades now and has a loyal customer base, a strong brand recall, and a focus to evolve constantly.
These factors will definitely help the brand sail through the different obstacles and continue being the top choice for its customers. That being said, it should also continue working on improving its threats to ensure Airtel's market share does not drop.
Conclusion
Airtel has been one of the few companies that have listened to what its customers want and successfully delivered it. Other companies can learn from Airtel's business and marketing strategies to grow in this ever-evolving market. We hope that this Airtel SWOT analysis helped you get valuable insights about this market leader. If you are interested in similar articles, please keep visiting Selectra.