By Nitin Waghela

Copyright republicworld

Ever wondered why India’s telecom giant is called Bharti Enterprises and not Mittal Enterprises? At the Republic Leadership Conclave, Vice Chairman Rajan Bharti Mittal revealed the fascinating story behind the name. Sharing a personal anecdote, he said his father wanted them to carry ‘Bharti,’ meaning India, as their identity rather than their family surname.Bharti Airtel, the flagship company of Bharti Enterpirses, has grown into one of the largest telecom operators in India, however this was not their story when their “romance with telecom” began in 1995.Rajan Bharti Mittal said, “We were a company generating USD 5 million at a time when 30 other companies were rushing to make a bid for mobile license.”Considering that the New-Delhi headquartered company was competing in an India were big players felt they deserved to get this license, Rajan Bharti seeked to shock the Department of Telecommunications in the technical bid, which carried 50 per cent of approval weightage.Interestingly, while competitors held their bid in envelopes, Ranjan took truck loads of bidding papers to Sanchar Bhawan, Department of Telecommunications.On the bidding process to provide telecom services for the first time in India, Ranjan said, “It led to court cases being filed after the completion of due process with later the government deciding to follow the policy of one company, one city.After winnning the bid during a period when Indian businesses were profiterring from economic liberisation, he said, “We were tiny and all we knew was it didnt matter what brand, partner you had until your customer is not happy.”“We lost a bidding at 1997 and everybody thought our story was over. We thought the bidding was completely out of whack which turned out to be true. 30 years down the lane, from a $5 million revenue company in 1995, today, we are a $25 billion revenue company if you just take the telecom side. We were at the right industry at the right time and the growth has been stupendous,” Bharti Enterprises VC said. Currently, Bharti Airtel, a household entity in the consolidated global telecom sector, operates in 18 countries across South Asia and Africa, as well as the Channel Islands, while providing 5G, 4G and LTE Advanced services pan-India.