Airtel: What Next, Mr. Mittal?

Came across this article on testfunda.com


If anyone deserves to be labeled the Dhirubhai Ambani or Jamshedji Tata of the past decade, it is Sunil Bharti Mittal. In a little over two decades, the small time businessman from Ludhiana has risen to the ranks of the goliaths in Indian industry, and is eager to spread his wings to foreign shores.
It takes guts, fortitude and more than luck to become the head of India’s largest, most profitable and fastest growing telecom company, beating the Tatas, the Birlas and the Amabanis on the way. And had the MTN deal come through, he would have made Airtel the third largest telecom company in the world, with over 220 million subscribers across 24 countries. It would also have vindicated his emerging market model which he has advocated with a passion, and which is now followed by even most of his competitors in the country today.
The Bharti-MTN merger can be counted as one of the largest business failures of 2009, yet Sunil Mittal has made it to the Forbes India people of the year list. In spite of the setback, he is not stepping back, playing the role of torchbearer for a number of Indian businesses and their aspirations on the global business stage.
A first generation entrepreneur, Mr. Mittal took a different path to success. Rather opting to grow talent for each of the functions within his company, he chose to outsource the work itself to companies that were proficient in that aspect of his business. Choosing to give up rather than hoard control, he built a top-caliber infrastructure that could expand in all directions efficiently, while retaining his nimble-footed approach to business. The adoption of his model by even his competitors is a tribute to his foresight.
Tying up with global partners from SingTel to British Telecom, the company he founded has gone from strength to strength. Every partner whether it has chosen to stay or leave has made a profitable partnership with Airtel. Even when Vodafone wanted to invest in Hutch-Essar, Airtel could have chosen to block the move, as Vodafine had a 10% stake in Airtel. But that is not his way. He has welcomed the coming of Vodafone, and fights it as spiritedly in the marketplace as all his other competitors.
And this is what represents the biggest challenge in the coming year. A number of competitors have entered the market and some of them like Uninor (the tie-up between Unitech and Telenor) and Tata Docomo are starting to make waves in the market. Tariffs are dropping under their onslaught, everything from SMS and per second pulse rates to ISD calling. Airtel will be hard put to keep up.
In the meanwhile, his other expansions in the service sector, including insurance and retail are taking shape and gaining share in the market. His tie-up with Walmart is similar to the kind of moves Airtel has made in the telecom space, and may change the face of Indian retail, much to the discomfort of pioneers and stalwarts like the Future Group (Central, Pantaloons, Big Bazar) and the Rahejas (who own Shoppers Stop and Hypercity).
Here’s wishing Mr. Mittal a very exciting year ahead – one which he should be eagerly anticipating.