Bharti Mobiles Ltd recorded total sales of Rs 189.9 crore in the FY 2000-01. Out of its two circles, Karnataka contributed 57.1 percent and Andhra Pradesh contributed 42.9 percent of revenue.

The company had a total base of 1.99 lakh users in the two circles, depicting a growth of 111.1 percent. While it still is the follower in both the states, in Karnataka, it narrowed the gap down to just about 2,000 customers. In Andhra Pradesh, however, Tata Cellular is a formidable rival to challenge for the company.

Last year, it consolidated its business and undertook big network expansion plans. By mid August, the company wants to reach around fifty cities in Karnataka. It plans to have 2 lakh subscribers in Karnataka by the year-end. In Andhra Pradesh, it is aggressively marketing its prepaid card Magic, which it launched in June 2000 and wants to make it its growth vehicle.

With the top two tech-savvy cities of India—Bangalore and Hyderabad—in its fold, Bharti Mobiles can plan to get quicker revenue from WAP and other data services. According to a survey conducted by VOICE&DATA, Bangalore was the most aware city as far as new technologies are concerned. Bharti needs to do less of awareness marketing.

This year, as most cellular service providers, will focus on ARPU in stead of just subscriber base, Bharti’s circles will be the hot circles.