| Bharti Hexacom Limited was incorporated as a Joint Venture Company in the year 1995 under the name Hexacom India Ltd to enter cellular services for diversifying their operations. They provided Cellular Mobile Telephony Services in the circles of North East and Rajasthan, pursuant to licenses granted by the Department of Telecommunications, Government of India, on December 12, 1995 and December 19, 1995.
The Company is a subsidiary of Bharti Airtel Ltd. It is a communications solutions provider offering consumer mobile services, fixed-line telephone and broadband services to customers in the Rajasthan and the North East telecommunication circles in India, which
comprises the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura. It offer services under the brand Airtel'. It offer cellular mobile, broadband, and telephone services. TCIL, a public sector undertaking firm holds 30% stake in the Company.
In December 2003, Bharti Airtel Ltd entered into an agreement with Telesystem (Mauritius) Pvt Ltd, Mauritius, a subsidiary of Telesystem International Wireless Inc, Canada, for buying their equity interest in the company for a consideration of $22.5 million.
In May 7, 2004, Bharti Airtel Ltd (formerly known as Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd) acquired majority shareholding (67.5%) of the company a consideration of Rs 431.07 crore. In October 2004, Bharti Airtel Ltd further acquired 1% equity stake from Fouad M T Al Ghanim Trading & Cont Co Kuwait. With the acquisition of this additional 1% stake, the total holding of Bharti Airtel Ltd in the company has increased to 68.5%. In December 2004, the company changed their name from Hexacom India Ltd to Bharti Hexacom Ltd.
During the year 2004-05, the company expanded their network in the existing cities and roller-out in 174 new towns and coverage is available in 230 towns A new switch was installed and the HLR capacity was increased from 310 K to 900 K with an addition of 270 BTS. They also launched value added services such as 'Ring back tones', GPRS, MMS for enhancement of 'VAS' offerings and revenues.
During the year, the company commenced state-of-the-art call centre and initiated various programmes for customer benefit. In March 30, 2005, the company, which holds a Cellular Mobile Service Provider License, launched their commercial operations in North-East Circle.
The company migrated their Cellular Mobile Service Provider License to Unified Access Service Licence in the telecom circle of Rajasthan with effect from April 10, 2006. In September 14, 2006, Bharti Airtel Ltd acquired 43,750,000 equity shares of the company for a consideration of Rs 57.50 crore thereby increasing their stake from 68.5% to 68.89%.
During the year 2007-08, the subscriber base for the company in Rajasthan increased by 112% from 1,800,356 to 3,815,628 and in North-East Circle by 76% from 274,044 to 481,499. The subscriber base for voice services increased by 75% from 11,866 to 20,766 and for DSL services has increased by 149% from 3,659 to 9,115.
In February 2009, Bharti Airtel Ltd, the holding company acquired 1.11 per cent stake, or 2,780,306 equity shares, in Bharti Hexacom Ltd from Mobile Telecommunications Co KSC, Kuwait. With this acquisition, Bharti Airtel Ltd shareholding in the company stands higher at 70% from 68.89%.
The company and Bharti Airtel Ltd have entered into a scheme of arrangement for transfer pursuant to de-merger of North East Circle Undertaking from the company to Bharti Airtel Ltd with effect from April 1, 2005, which was approved by the board. The company is in the process of filing the approved scheme in the High Court.
In August 2009, the Government of India has finally approved state-run TCIL's (Telecommunications Consultants India) exit from the company, which is a joint venture with Bharti Airtel Ltd. TCIL decides to sell their 30% in the company to raise funds to be utilized for the purpose of expansion of the telecom.
The Company's 3G services in Jaipur, was the first launch in North India in 2011. In 2015, it launched 4G technology in Meghalaya's capital Shillong, the first in the North East circle; in 2016, the Company launched Platinum 3G services to customers. The first 4G service in Ajmer, marked the rollout of Rajasthan's first 4G services followed by launch of 4G services in Kota and Jaipur; launched 15th Company-Owned-Company-Operated retail store in Rajasthan; launched 2G and 3G services to mobile services in towns of Lumla, Nafra and Longding in Arunachal Pradesh, which was the first time that customers in these towns gained access to 3G mobile services.
In 2019, Tata Teleservices Limited and Bharti Airtel Limited was demerged into the Company through the Scheme of Arrangement implemented. The Company in 2021, launched Airtel Black. In 2023, it launched 5G services in Jaipur, Udaipur, Kota, Jodhpur, Ajmer, Alwar, Bikaner and Bhilwara in Rajasthan; launched Airtel 5G Plus services in Shillong and Meghalaya; launched 5G services in the North-East States. |