Airtel launches services in Europe

The Bharti group launched its first foray in telecom in the European market on Thursday, with the launch of its services in Jersey, Channel Islands. Jersey Airtel, a subsidiary of the Bharti Group, on Thursday announced the launch of its mobile services on the Island.

The company will offer products and services under the Airtel-Vodafone brand to customers on the Island, over its full 2G, 3G and HSDPA enhanced network. Sunil Mittal said; “We are making a small beginning for Bharti in the overseas market; we hope to learn a lot from it.”

Jersey, along with Guernsey, is a crown property off the coast of France, is one of the world’s leading offshore financial centres with an exclusive focus on financial services, and a playground for the rich and financially famous. Jersey’s GDP and per capital are among the highest in the world, topping most developed nations. The services are being launched under the Airtel-Vodafone brand name.

The company said that Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman & group CEO, served the first customer at the Airtel-Vodafone shop, centrally located in Queen Street, St Helier. Commenting on the launch, Mr Mittal said, “This is a special day for all of us at Bharti and we are delighted at the launch of our services in Jersey. We are committed to bringing world-class services to customers and adding value to communities and businesses on the Island.”Jersey Airtel will give European customers a taste of Indian mobile pricing and services; which are far cheaper and more flexible than what most of Europe is used to.

Customers are being offered significant discounts if they choose to keep their existing handset. Pre-paid customers will get flat rates across all networks in Jersey and another flat rate to all networks across the EU including UK. All of these are still unheard of in Europe, where customers mostly have to pay higher rates for calls from mobiles, to other networks, and so on.

David Watson, chief executive of Jersey Airtel, said, “We are confident that our customers will be celebrating with us when they experience first-hand the best in global mobile telecommunications. There will be important benefits for both the Jersey consumer and business customers.”