Bharti readies for unified voice and data offering

Bharti Tele-Ventures, the telecom service provider, has said that it is currently working out offers to provide bundled services to its subscribers, especially to corporates and those in the enterprise space.

The company will come out with various packages for offering both voice and data to its customers.

The exercise is a result of Bharti's announcement of the unified brand strategy for all its telecom services, with AirTel as the flagship brand. The unified brand strategy is expected to make life simpler for customers, providing them with more choice of services.

AirTel has ensured that all its services can be offered under one brand name to reduce hassles for customers.

Speaking to reporters during the announcement of the company's brand unification, Deepak Mehrotra, chief operating officer, Bharti Mobile Ltd, said, "We are working out offers for bundled services, now that we have brought together all our brands under AirTel. The idea is to provide the customer with a one-stop shop for all his voice and data needs."

With the coming together of all brands, AirTel officials feel that the company will be able to leverage the service strengths that have already been built in by its mobile operations.

For instance, this unification will automatically provide customers with more access points to pay their bills, unlike in the past where a Touchtel customer had fewer options.

"The advantage of scale that AirTel has already built will be of great importance to this unification. We will also be coming out with various other service offers that will reduce the burden on the subscriber, over a period of time," Atul Bindal, group chief marketing officer and director mobility, Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd, said.

Under the new brand architecture, Touchtel and IndiaOne brands will now be AirTel. Bharti's unified brand strategy follows the initiation of the unified licence regime and the company's strategy to simplify things for its customers.

Currently, Bharti has a customer base of 9.04 million across the country. In terms of mobility, the telecom industry is currently witnessing nearly 1.5-1.7 million customers coming on-board every month.