Airtel investing Rs 60,000 crore in expansion

Bharti Airtel announced an investment of `60,000 crore over the next three years on expanding and improving its network as part of its new project ‘Project Leap’.

“In terms of network quality, we are still not where we need to be,” said Gopal Vittal, MD and CEO, Bharti Airtel, announcing a ten point programme to transform Airtel’s network with Project Leap.

Within the ten point programme, Airtel will deploy over 70,000 base stations in FY15-16 and provide broadband coverage for 2, 50,000 villages by March 2016. In terms of indoor infrastructure, Airtel plans to deploy over 1, 00,000 solutions through a combination of wi-fi hotspots, small cells and indoor solutions over three years.

Airtel will cumulatively deploy more than 5,50,000 km of domestic and international fibre to serve growing demand of data services. The programme also focuses on modernisation of existing networks, reduction in carbon footprint by 70%.