Bharti Airtel changed the Indian mobile scene with its prepaid minutes model. It faces a tough challenge as it tries to take it to Africa through Zain
My history is that I’ve been constantly proving people wrong. I did that in 1995, 2000 and 2005. It’ll be the same in 2010 too.” Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman and managing director of the Bharti Group, has been telling his senior managers and partners in recent meetings.
The $10.7-billion (the price paid for Zain Africa) question is, can the Minutes Factory be transported to Africa? The short answer is, not very easily. Bharti’s top brass will have to think out of the box to transplant this model to Africa.
(This story appears in the 30 April, 2010 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)