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Bharti Airtel has hit the 60 million mobile subscriber mark at the end of March, making it one of the world’s largest mobile companies. Its mobile subscribers are now double the entire population of India’s fixed line subscribers. The only difference is that while Bharti took roughly 14 years to build this market, building the country’s fixed line base took over 100 years. But far from resting on its laurels, Bharti is quietly reinventing itself and its brand proposition to ride the next wave of growth and reach new benchmarks.

Manoj Kohli, president & CEO of Bharti Airtel, said “By 2010, we intend to touch a subscriber base of 125 million and also be recognized as a global benchmark in productivity and efficiency in the telecom sector. We are transitioning from a mobile brand to an integrated telecom brand and our advertising will strongly reflect this shift,” said Kohli. According to Kohli, the transformation strategy for the next two to three years is already in place and rests on three main platforms: Market share gain, efficiency and productivity and people development. According to him, 20 leaders in the past 6 months have got higher positions.

The mobile giant is now targeting volume growth from a 700-million strong rural population and revenue growth from data and value-added services, while attempting to get leaner, still more agile and productive by leveraging huge economies of scale as it doubles its market. Airtel is already reported to be the second largest advertiser in India after Hindustan Unilever and well ahead of Colgate Palmolive and Reckitt Benckiser and its impressive topline growth could threaten HUL’s domination in media in times to come.

Airtel, which has already linked 3.2 lakh villages, is maintaining its rollout momentum of 20,000 to 30,000 new villages every quarter. It is also relentlessly beefing up its 8 lakh distribution/retail reach. In the non-voice segment, Bharti Airtel intends to strengthen its five business areas: broadband (8 Mbps), carriers (long distance), corporate & enterprise; small & medium enterprises (SME), and media (IPTV and DTH). With Bharti chairman, Sunil Mittal back at the Bharti headquarters full time once his one-year stint as the CII president ends in April, the company certainly seems wired for growth.