Bharti Airtel Limited (532454) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

As you are aware, the Board of Directors of Bharti Airtel approved issuance of 7.1 crores shares at a price of INR 734 to Google International LLC on a preferential basis. In order to discuss this further, present with us today is Mr. Gopal Vittal, CEO, India and South Asia; Mr. Soumen Ray, CFO, India and South Asia; and Mr. Harjeet Kohli, Group Director, Strategy and Business Development. Before I hand over the call to Mr. Gopal Vittal for his opening remarks, let me highlight that this call we will be for opening for Q&A session. [Operator Instructions] Please note duration of the call is restricted to 30 minutes and that communication restricted to the outcome of Board meeting as we are in silent period. With this, I would like to hand over the call to Gopal for his opening remarks.

Thank you, Rajiv. Let me start firstly by welcoming all our friends from the investor community as well as our friends from the media. We have now, as Airtel invested over $46 billion in creating a massive digital highway for India. It is -- we believe, this highway that enables over 40% of India's digital activity. As tariffs rise and ARPU rises, this highway will give us the cash flows to keep investing, and build even greater relevance for Airtel as a leading pioneer of India's digital revolution. However, in addition to this massive digital highway, we have also built many other assets in a quiet but focused way. Today with Wynk we're already the largest music streaming service in India with over 2.8 billion monthly streams. We're also the only profitable and growing fintech player in the payment space with Airtel Payments Bank. We are the #1 CPaaS player by EBITDA already and Airtel IQ is being adopted by more and more of our enterprise customers. We're amongst the first telcos worldwide to build an Adtech platform through Airtel Ads that is now serving hundreds of customers and growing rapidly. With Nxtra, we're the #1 data center player in India. We're already the #1 IoT player in India. In under a year, we're already amongst the top 10 cybersecurity players. As stand-alone businesses, Airtel Payments Bank, Nxtra, Wynk, Airtel Ads and Airtel IQ would comfortably add 5 more unicorns to India's tally of 83. What has enabled this comes down, I think, to one thing. Our customer obsession. We listen to our customers, and know what they're looking for. This is what we focus on and then build. It is the same customer obsession that allows us to have the best quality customers with the best ARPUs and with incredible stickiness. Looking ahead, we feel we are truly well poised for the future as our customers graduate to 5G. We also recognize that these are unique capabilities and a set of muscles that takes years to build. We have already built these muscles. So under the hood of this Airtel, we have a data lake of over 350 million customers, which has taken us 5 years to build, clean, tag and capture. We have a data science and analytics team of 400 across 2 different locations. We have a system that connects this data to 63,000 front-end engineers, call center staff and salesmen that are serving customers, and increasingly, they can do predictive fault elimination. These capabilities also provide us cutting-edge support to our core business, which allows us to plan, deploy and a [ set ] tower for customers in a granular and precise way. It also allows us to deliver the best experience for our customers. It is precisely these unique capabilities that allows us to attract and retain 2,100 of the brightest and best digital talent in the world. And it's these same capabilities that making -- make it really exciting for hundreds of partners globally to work with us in a way that is seamless and efficient. Today, we've announced a deepening of our already very strong partnership with Google, one of our leading partners. This partnership, as you would have seen in the press release, covers an investment into Airtel in the form of equity worth USD 700 million at a share price of INR 734. This will effectively give Google a stake of 1.28% when considering fully paid shares, and 1.2% if we include the partly paid shares as well. As you're aware, we've done a rights issue with the first call. In addition, the partnership entails creation of a corpus of up to USD 300 million towards firing up the digital ecosystem by implementing mutually agreed commercial initiatives over the next few years. As a part of the first commercial agreement, both companies will work to scale Airtel's offering across 3 areas. The first area is devices. We are jointly committed to rapidly accelerating smartphone access. At Airtel, we mentioned that we are already working across 4 broad tracks on devices. Lending capabilities and alliances that will bring down unit prices, that's the first track. The second track is software capabilities that will allow us to target incentives and cash backs, should the need arise. The third track is device as well as e-commerce partnerships across a battery of local and international players. And finally, using our own proprietary data models to predict which customer is likely to upgrade. We have no plans to build our own device, but instead intend to partner across the ecosystem, as I repeatedly mentioned in all our calls, to further accelerate the adoption of smartphones from feature phones. The second area as part of this commercial initiatives is across networks. Both companies will look to co-create India-specific network domain use cases for 5G and other standards with cutting-edge implementations. Airtel is already using Google's 5G ready Evolved Packet Core and software-defined network platforms, and plans to explore scaling up the deployment of Google's network virtualization solutions to deliver a superior network experience to the customers. Finally, the third area across the commercial initiatives is cloud. Both companies will also focus on shaping and growing the cloud ecosystem in India to accelerate their digital transformation journeys. Airtel serves over 1 million small and medium businesses with its enterprise connectivity offering, and this partnership will help accelerate digital adoption. In sum, I do want to underscore through this deeper, more strategic partnership, a very strong validation of Airtel's role in being a leading pioneer of India's digital revolution. Rajiv, over to you.

Thank you very much, Gopal, for your opening remarks. Before we open the floor for Q&A, my only request to participants restrict your questions to the outcome of the Board meeting today as we are in silent period. Abarna, you can go ahead and moderate the Q&A, please.

[Operator Instructions] The first question comes from Mr. Sanjesh Jain.

A couple of questions from my side. First, on the $300 million, which Google is investing and building their digital ecosystem. What will be the contribution of Airtel in the same program? Will there be Airtel putting another $300 million, $400 million in the same proportion as Google?

You said you had 2 questions, Sanjesh.

Yes. That one is the first one. And second one, I want to understand broadly on how is the enterprise ecosystem getting benefited here because Reliance has tied up with Microsoft. We already had a tie up with Google. We were already selling it as a part of our partnership with them. What additional edge will Airtel get with the equity stake infusion by the Google?

I think Google been a long-standing partner with us, and I think I do want to underscore that both companies Google and Airtel share a joint vision of accelerating digital adoption. So the way we see it is that this corpus is really [ an ex ] in terms of agreeing a set of commercial objectives to accelerate digital adoption. From our perspective, our strategy remains unchanged. As far as smartphone access is concerned, we always mentioned that we are looking at working across a battery of lending players to bring down unit prices in the software capabilities to target cash backs and incentives into a device. We are also working across device manufacturers and e-commerce players. And of course, we've got a predictive data model that predicts upgradation. So to that extent, our strategy remains unchanged. I think we share a joint objective to drive smartphone access. The second part is really around cloud, which addresses your question around enterprise. Our cloud ecosystem is a rapidly growing ecosystem with Airtel Cloud we're already in that space. We're partnering with several companies around the world to drive customers on to the cloud, particularly in our small and medium businesses as well as some of our enterprise customers. This will continue to accelerate through this partnership. One of the initiatives that we had was distribution of some of the products of Google, including the G Suite applications. In a way, this is kind of just strengthening the same partnership that is actually working. But equally, it's also about driving cloud adoption. And the third area is around network. We're already using the Evolved Packet Core within our domain. And we are looking at a whole bunch of applications on 5G. 5G, I think, over the next 2 to 3 years will really rapidly scale up in India. And companies like Google will provide us the capability to develop in partnership, cutting-edge applications using software to really reshape customer experience.

Gopal, if you can clarify on what is the investment which Airtel will bring in, while Google is bringing in $300 million?

I think Airtel is already putting in $2.5 billion every year, as you know, in terms of CapEx. And that will continue and Airtel will continue to actually allocate capital towards several areas, whether it's home broadband, it's data centers, it's our 5G networks. But even more, what this will do is actually fire up our digital agenda dramatically. And that's where we will put -- we'll double down and really go deep.

Just one last bit on the enterprise side. It looks like with Google, we are competing also, we are a partner also, and there is an opportunity from the data center side. We are -- we have an ambition to increase the data center footprint by 3x. Will Google be an anchor tenant to a lot of this data center we are building with this partnership? That's number one. . Number two, how do you bifurcate the conflict of interest between what Nxtra is doing and what Google Cloud? I think we are competition at 1 point of time, right?

Sanjesh, that not actually, not really. As far as Nxtra is concerned, we are in the business of building our data centers for customers, both domestic players as well hyperscalers. We are indeed the largest data center in India. We've also got over 120 edge data centers, which are able to dramatically improve the experience close to the edge. And with 5G, this capability is priceless. On the cloud, we have a 3-pronged strategy. One is really around our own public cloud, which is about partnering, partnering across the ecosystem, and this is where we are working very closely with Google. And the third is our own private cloud for data that needs to be hosted in India. This is again something that we are offering to many of the customers where regulatory requirements dictate that. And so it's not competition in that sense. It's really coopetition, which is actually working across the ecosystem. In data centers, we are in a very different business relative to cloud is what I would say.

And Google as an anchor tenant in the expanding footprint?

I wouldn't be able to comment on specifics here, Sanjesh. But there are -- we are working across hyperscalers. Every one of the hyperscalers has something or the other with us. So yes, data centers, working with hyperscalers is a top priority for us.

[Operator Instructions] The next question comes from Mr. Vivekanand Subbaraman.

I'm Vivekanand from AMBIT Capital. Two questions here. One that Google since they are also an investor in Jio platforms and a Board member there. Do you think that would -- I mean how do you avoid conflict of interest in this situation given that Jio is one of your fierce rivals. Second question is, did I hear it right that Google will look to utilize this capital or your digital agenda. Can you please elaborate on that?

Yes. I think as I mentioned, connecting a very large market in India with over 1.3 billion people requires a multipronged approach. So with Google's India Digitization Fund, Google for India Digitization fund, which they've announced a $10 billion. I think this is a part of that shared vision to actually drive digital adoption. And as I've mentioned, our partnership is really related to strengthening what we've already been working on for over a decade. And in specific, on 3 broad areas to fire up the digital ecosystem: devices, networks and cloud adoption. As far as the digital agenda is concerned, I've already mentioned that within Airtel itself, we have potentially 5 unicorns. These are our digital assets that we have built assiduously. And yes, the ambition is to dramatically fire up these digital assets. In addition to that, of course, we will continue to invest aggressively in driving home broadband and driving -- and developing 5G over a period of time. And of course, even on the enterprise side, where we have actually done exceedingly well over the last few years.

And as far as the question goes on the conflict of interest approval given that they are...

I think that we partner with several companies just as Google partners across several companies. And like I mentioned, in India, you do need a multipronged approach to drive adoption of digital. It's a complex problem. And our partnership is really focused on driving mutually agreed objectives with the shared vision.

Okay. Fair enough. Just one last follow-up, which is you are driving your digital agenda, you talk about the products that you have and the 5 unicorns in your stable. So -- does this partnership give you the capital to accelerate investments in these areas? Or is it something specific that you are going to work on with Google, particularly on these products?

Well, from a capital perspective, Vivekanand, we have a comfortable leverage situation. We are also generating solid cash flows now to continue to fund CapEx. In addition, we have announced the rights issue, as you know, and we've made 1 call. There is residual calls to be made to fund any additional growth CapEx that may be required. And this funding just kind of bolsters that entire agenda and fires up our the initiatives that we already have in place. So that's really how we see.

The next question comes from Mr. Varun Ahuja.

My name is Varun, and I'm calling from Credit Suisse. I've got a couple of questions. First, if you can give some color on the conflict of interest from the perspective of other cloud service provider that you provide. I believe AWS is also a good partner for you. So does -- Google getting an equity stake in the firm, how does it kind of hinder the poles of other data center provider or hyperscaler in the business and also how do you manage that conflict of interest? That's number one. Number two, I think, historically, you have kind of shied away talking about any handset subsidies. I think if I get it, you did mention, Gopal, in your opening remarks, you may look at using software or some of the other technology stuff to better target the subsidies. So are you now more open towards handset subsidies more on a targeted basis? That's number two.

So I think the first question is that on the conflict of interest, there is absolutely 0 conflict of interest. We are working across multiple players, and we will continue to work across multiple players to -- in all areas. So whether it's devices, working across devices, whether it's e-commerce players, device manufacturers. Similarly, on the cloud, we work across several hyperscalers. We're building data centers for all of the hyperscalers, and we are taking specific workloads on to the cloud through partnerships that works with hyperscalers. So there is absolutely 0 conflict of interest in that respect. On the targeted incentives and cash backs that I mentioned, we -- as I've always mentioned, we are not keen on a subsidy game. That is clear. But equally, we are going to be competitive in the market. So wherever it needs to be done, if there's an incentive to be given, then we have developed the software capability to target it into a device in order to be really smart and minimize the economic cost of that. We also, through our data models, have the capability to predict who is likely to upgrade to a device based on 30 to 40 attributes. And we now have high sophistication to predict a upgrade over a period of 3 to 5 months at almost an 80% probability. So this is something that we will use to deploy in terms of those targeted incentives if it's required.

The next question comes from Mr. Piyush Choudhary.

This is Piyush from HSBC. Congrats on this partnership. Only one question for me. We have seen several SingTel associates, like, as you know, in Indonesia, Telkomsel has invested in digital companies like GoTo. So can we see Airtel becoming more active in driving those partnerships by even investing in such digital companies in future?

Thanks, Piyush. Thank you. A good question. I think we have a Airtel accelerator program already in our portfolio. And what we do is through this accelerator, we're working with early-stage start-ups in very specific areas, which are of interest to us, depending on where our strategic focus lies. Let me give you one example. We've invested in a speech analytics company that has actually enabled us to strip out costs completely from our call centers. We used to have hundreds and thousands of people actually monitoring calls and looking at the call quality. Today, everything is done through machines, and this startup was something -- someone that came in through the Airtel accelerator program. And through the accelerator program, we are able to work with these startups, get to understand them, give them a leg up, make them succeed. And then over a period of time, we can continue to invest in them. So that's the way that we are currently approaching this. Over a period of time, we will see how to expand this and build a stronger portfolio in order to meet the same strategic goals that we have because that remains unchanged.

The next question comes from Mr. Aliasgar Shakir.

This is Aliasgar from Motilal Oswal. Just a couple of questions. One is on, is there any exclusivity in this deal. Particularly in the device side, we have seen Google launching with one of your competitors, a device recently. So yes, just if you can share any details in terms of, in device or any other specific space, there is any exclusivity that this deal brings?

No. Aliasgar, no. The answer is there is no exclusivity. I think generally, we prefer to work across the ecosystem. And -- so yes, when it comes to software, we would use existing Android capabilities. But at the same time, we are not developing any exclusive device or anything like that. I think that requires a very different kind of capability set. And we would much rather work across every player, whether it's device manufacturer or e-commerce player to really like provide smartphone access. So no, there is no exclusivity that we are looking at.

Quick follow-up here. So when we talk about bringing affordable handset. if -- can you just share some insight about what are we planning to do here? I mean, is there any -- going to be any bundled device? Or I mean it will be open market products?

Yes. Like I mentioned, I think, for example, I'll give you a few examples. One is we did the Mera Pehla Smartphone. We've also worked with the pilots around lending. So bringing down the unit price with the battery of lenders. We have done multiple pilots on this. And we also have the software capability to make sure that we're monitoring the EMI that is paid out for those devices. There's a third capability where we work with one of the device players to provide a targeted incentive for an upgrade based on our intelligence of which customer is likely to upgrade. So these are between INR 500 to INR 1,000. And that, again, has seen very significant traction. So it will be things like that, which are done smartly and cleverly in order to drive smartphone adoption.

Got it. And you did answer the question related to you being an investor in some of the initial start-up, but is there a likelihood of the other way around where Google is the first of the kind of tie-ups that you are looking in terms of partnership or investments from tech companies globally?

Well, I think that, that's a speculative question. I mean the fact is that we have limited ability to dilute overall. So this is a more strategic investment which is based on 2 companies that have a very shared vision of where this digital ecosystem is growing and how to reshape. So I think that's really what we've done there.

The next question comes from Mr. Ankur Rudra.

This is Ankur Rudra from JPMorgan. There has been -- obviously, like you mentioned your cash back program, Mera Pehla Smartphone and also you've been historically generally averse to giving upfront handset subsidies. Will there be any changes to the current smartphone program? And any changes to that policy you had before?

No. I think nothing fundamentally changes, but it's a competitive market out there. For us, the most important thing is to actually drive faster smartphone adoption. I think that goal remains unchanged. We've done well over the last 2 years to actually drive almost 80 million users from feature phones on to smartphones. And we will continue to actually push for that because we also know that for every smartphone user that moves from feature phone to smartphone, we get a significant jump in the ARPU, which is part of our premiumization agenda. So that is something that we will continue to look to do. And given that it's a competitive market, we have all of these capabilities that I've already mentioned.

Understood. I just wanted to understand a bit more, you recently improved the quality of the balance sheet significantly, you raised capital via various mechanisms, was there a need to raise capital to achieve the objectives of this partnership? Could it have been achieved just by a commercial partnership?

Well, we are -- we definitely have partnerships across the ecosystem. So we have partnerships with sort of every player, I mean, actually, all the large tech companies, but in addition to that, hundreds of players across the ecosystem. So that effort will only continue, and this is part of the DNA of Airtel. I think in this particular case, we also felt that bringing it together in the form of a strategic equity partnership with a small dilution is actually a very compelling way to bring the 2 companies together to meet the same shared objectives that we share. So that's really the purpose of it. I think it's much more strategic than just access or need for capital because that capital could have come from anywhere.

The next question comes from Mr. Nitin Padmanabhan.

This is Nitin from Investec. You had mentioned that this sort of Google will put in $300 million to drive increasing adoption of devices. Now from what I understand, I think you're looking at -- the financing is taken care of through NBFCs. I'm just trying to understand what exactly would this $300 million be used for? Or what are they going to put that money for? If you could give some clarity there.

Yes. I think you're looking for very specific answers on this, and I'm afraid I'm not going to give you a specific answer right now because this is part of a corpus that will be invested to meet those objectives over a period of 5 years. Within this and there will be several commercial agreements that will actually have commercial initiatives that will go to meet objectives that could change. And it could also mean driving certain digital goals of the company. So I would say at this point, it's around 3 areas. One is devices, the second is networks, and the third is cloud. That's really how it is, and there will be more such agreements that will follow over a period of time.

The next question comes from Mr. Arun Prasath.

Gopal, my question is your competitor has recently launched a similar product with INR 6,000 affordable smartphone in partnership with Google. The initial comments from one of your other peers suggest that it hasn't really made much difference in the marketplace. So in your opinion, what do you need to do differently to actually ensure that the customers take up the affordable smartphone that you will be introducing in the market in partnership with Google?

Yes. Arun, I think this question is more relevant for our earnings call because it is really talking about our overall strategy on devices. So I will not take this particular question because this kind of addresses what our objective is and how we want to drive it. I will restrict my comments to our existing strategy, which is around those 4 areas that I mentioned, which is lending softwares, the data intelligence that we have and the partnerships across the ecosystem.

With this, I would now hand over the proceedings to Mr. Gopal Vittal for the closing remarks.

I do want to thank you again for logging in. I think this is a significant milestone for both companies. We do share a joint vision in terms of driving digital adoption and converting what has been a long-standing partnership with Google over a decade or more into an arrangement that also has them as a strategic shareholder is something that we feel very excited about. So I want to thank you again for logging in, and good luck to you.

Thank you, everyone, for joining us today. Recording of this webinar will also be available on our website for your reference.