Airtel crosses 650 million subscribers, ranks second globally

Bharti Airtel on Thursday said it has crossed 650 million customers globally, cementing its position as the world’s second-largest telecom operator by subscriber base, according to industry data from GSMA Intelligence.

The telecom major, which operates across India and Africa, said the milestone reflects its expanding global footprint and sustained investments in digital infrastructure and services.

Commenting on the development, Gopal Vittal, Executive Vice Chairman of Bharti Airtel, said achieving the 650-million customer mark comes with a responsibility to serve users better.

“Achieving the milestone of 650 million customers to be the second largest operator globally is a great responsibility for us to serve our customers better every day. This is why we invest in state-of-the-art technologies to not only provide connectivity but to also deliver a safe network,” he said.

In India, Airtel serves over 368 million mobile customers and was among the first to roll out 5G services.

The company said it serves more than 13 million homes with fixed broadband and over 15 million digital TV customers in the country.

Its enterprise arm provides services including cloud, cybersecurity, internet-of-things (IoT) solutions and network connectivity, supported by a global subsea cable network and data centre infrastructure.

The company has also recently announced its entry into the non-banking financial company (NBFC) space.

In Africa, Airtel’s unit had more than 179 million customers across 14 countries, with its mobile money platform Airtel Money serving over 52 million users.

Airtel is also expanding its global connectivity footprint through partnerships with satellite providers such as Eutelsat OneWeb and SpaceX to deliver broadband services in remote and underserved regions.