BUDGET Introduction:

Planning is the basic managerial function. It helps in determining the course of action to be followed for achieving organizational goals. It is a decision in advance, what to do, how to do and who will do a particular task? Plans are framed to achieve better results. Control is the process of checking whether the plans are being adhered to or not, keeping a record of progress, comparing it with the plans, and then taking corrective measures for future if there is any deviation. Every business enterprise needs the use to control techniques for surveying in the highly competitive and changing economic world. There are various control devices in use. Budgets are the most important tool of profit planning and control. They also act as an instrument of co-ordination.

Definition:
Budget is defined as a kind of future accounting in which problems of future are met on the paper before transactions actually occur. According to CIMA, Official Terminology, A Budget is a financial and/or quantitative statement prepared prior to a defined period of time, of the policy to be pursed during that period for the purpose of attaining a give objective. According to Crown and Howard, A budget is a predetermined statement of management policy during a given period, which provided a standard for comparison with the results actually achieved.

Need of budget:
To forecast and to plan for the future to avoid losses and maximize profits i.e. to help in planning. To bring about coordinations between different function of an enterprise i.e., to help in co-ordination. To control actual actions by ensuring that actual are in tune with target i.e., to help in controlling.

Essentials of budget:
Budget is prepared on future course of action and is prepare in advance. Budget is based on objectives to be achieved during a definite future period. Budget is a tool for developing the co-operation, co-ordination and control among employees.

Advantages of budget:
It formulates basic policies necessary to achieve organizational objectives. It forces all levels of management to participate in the process of setting and Fulfillment of targets. It creates the feeling of co-operation and understanding between different Departments of the business

 It ensure optimum utilization of resources with a view to maximize returns. It highlights upon the in efficiency in the business and thus helps the Management to take remedial actions.

Types of budget:
The Budgets are usually classified according to their nature. The following are the types of budgets, which are commonly used.

a) Classification According to Time: 1. Long-term budgets 2. Short-term budgets 3. Current budget

b) Classification on the basis of function: 1. Operation Budgets 2. Financial Budgets 3. Master Budgets

c) Classification on the basis of Flexibility: 1. Fixed budget 2. Flexible budget

d) Classification on the basis of nature of business: 1. Capital Expenditure 2. Revenue Expenditure

A) Classification According to Time: 1) Long Term Budgets The Budgets are prepared to depict long term planning of the business. The period of long term budgets various between five to ten years. The long term planning is done by the top-level management it is not generally known to lower levels of management's. Long-term time budgets are prepared for some sectors of the concern such as capital expenditure research and development. Long term finances etc these budgets are useful for those industries where gestation period is long i.e. machinery, electricity, and organization.

2) Short Term Budgets -These budgets are generally for one or five Years and are in the form of monetary terms. The consumers goods industries like sugar, cotton, textiles, etc. use short-term budget. 3) Current Budget The Period of current budget is generally of one to twelve months. The budgets relate to the current activities of the business. According to I.C.W.A. London. "Current budget is a budget which is established for use over a short period of time and is related to current conditions.

B) Classification on the basis of function: 1. Operating Budgets: These budgets relate to the different activities of operations of a firm. The number of such budget upon the size and nature of business. The commonly used operating budgets are; A. Sales Budget B. Production Budget C. Production cost Budget D. Purchase Budget E. Raw Material Budget F. Labour Budget

(2) Financial Budget: - Financial Budget are concerned with cash receipts and disbursements, working capital. Expenditure, financial position and result of business

operations. The commonly used financial budgets are: a. Cash Budget b. Working Capital Budget c. Capital Expenditure Budget d. Income Statement Budget e. Statement of Retained Earnings Budget f. Budget Balance sheet or position statement Budget

(3) Master Budget: - Various functional budgets are integrated into master budget. This budget is prepared by the ultimate integration of separate function budgets. According to I.C.W.A. London. "The master budget is the summary budget in corpora-ting its functional budgets". Master budget is prepared by the budget officers remained with the top-level management. This budget is used to co-ordinate the activities of various departments and also to help as a control device.

(c) Classification on the basis of Flexibility:(1) Fixed budget: - The fixed budgets are prepared for a given level of activity, the budget is prepared before the beginning of the financial year, if the financial year starts in January then the budget will be prepared a month or two earlier, i.e. November or December. The charge in expenditure arising out of the anticipated changes will not be adjusted in the budget. There is a difference of about twelve months in the budgeted and a actual figures. According to I.C.W.A. London, "Fixed budget is a which is designed to remain unchanged irrespective of the level of activity actually attained". (2) Flexible Budget: - A flexible budget consists of a series of budgets for different level of activity. It therefore, various with the level of activity attained. A flexible budget is prepared after taking into consideration unforeseen changes in the conditions of the Business. A flexible budget is defined as a budget, which by recognizing the difference between fixed, semi fixed and variable cost is designed to change in relation to the level of activity.

(d)Classification of on the basis of nature of business:(1)Capital expenditure budget:- Budget which are related to the creation of manufacturing facilities are knows as capital expenditure budgets (2)Revenue expenditure budget:- Budget which are prepared for routine activities or operations are called revenue budget

BUDGETARY CONTROL Introduction:Budget is formal plan of future course of action. When the budget is use to evaluate the actual performance it is known as budgetary control. Budgetary control is the planning in advance of various functions of business so that the business as whole can be controlled.

Objectives of budgetary of control:

To control departmental activities. To help in systematic planning of protection and formulation of policies. To control direct and indirect expenses by limiting the chances of wastages. To control income and expenditure of production functions. To compare the pre-determined targets with the amount of actual expenses.

Advantages of budgetary control:

The budgetary control system has got some advantages of its own. Some of them are:

 It acts as yardstick with which actual are compared and necessary corrections can be made so that it promotes efficiency and there by helps the management for taking future courses of action. Co-ordination is established among the different departments and individuals through planning policy and control. Limiting factors can be utilized properly by the application of this system. Otherwise less important factors can pay the most significant role without, however, utilizing the scarce sectors, which should have been used in view of their importance. As a result, there may be loss instead of profit.

Limitations of budgetary control:

The budgetary control systems are however not free from short coming which are as follows; This system proves useless in that firm where policies, processes, techniques, etc., are frequently changing since it does not take into account such changes. It is very costly in case of small firm and serves no purpose in the event of abnormal situations, such as strikes, lockouts etc. There are many factors over which the management has no control but the budgetary

control depends on them. In that case, if its is prepared, it may be inaccurate and fails to serve the purpose for which it is meant.

Characteristics of good budgeting:

A good Budgeting system should involve persons at different levels while preparing the budgets. The subordinates should not feel any imposition of them. There should be a proper fixation of authority and responsibility. The delegation of authority should be done in a proper way. The targets of the budgets should be realistic; if the targets are difficult to be achieved then they will not ensure the persons concerned.

 A good system of accounting is also essential to move the budgetary successful. The budgeting system should have a whole-hearted support of the top management.

Requisites for successful budgetary control system:

1. Clarifying Objectives: The budgets are used to realize objectives of the business. The objectives must be clearly spelt out so that budgets are properly prepared. In the absence of clear goals, the budgets will also be unrealistic. 2. Proper Delegation of Authority and Responsibility: Budget preparation and control is done at every level of management. Even though budgets are finalized at top level but involvement of persons from lower, levels of management are essential for their success. This necessities proper delegation of authority and responsibility. 3. Proper Communication System : An effective system of communication is required for a successful budgetary control. The flow of information regarding budgets should be quick so that these are implemented. The upward communication will help in knowing the difficulties in implementation of budgets. 4. Budget Education : The employees should be properly educated about the benefits at budgetary system. They should be educated about their role in the success of this system. The employees may not

take budgetary control only as a control device but it should be used as a tool to improve their efficiency. 5. Participation of all Employees :Budgeting is done by every segment of the business. It will also require the active participation and involvement of all employees. In practice the budgets are to be executed at lower levels of Management. Those for whom the budgets are framed should be actively associated with their preparation and execution. The employees, on the basis of their past experience, may give more practical and useful suggestions.

6. Flexibility :Flexbility in budgets is required to make them suitable under changed circumstances Budgets are prepared for the future, which is always uncertain. Even though budgets are prepared by considering the future possibilities but still some occurrences late on may necessitate more appropriate and realistic.

Organization chart for budgetary control:

Managing Director

Chief Executive

Budget Committee

Budget Officers

Sales Manager

Productio n Manager

Purchase Manager

Personnel Manager

Developme nt Manager

Accounta nt

Key fa
The factor that sets a limit to the total activity is known as key factor which influence budgets. It is also called limiting factor or governing factor principal budget factor. For example, there may be a high demand for a particular product but due to non-availability of the supply of raw materials, production may have to be destructed and this factor is known as key factor. The following are examples of key factor.

1.

MATERIALS

I ii)

Availability of supply Restriction imposed by licenses, quotas etc.,

2.

LABOUR

I) ii)

General storage Shortage of skilled labor Consumer demand Inadequate advertising and

3.

SALES

I) ii)

warehousing facilities iii) Dearth of experience or

successful salesman; 4. PLANT : I) Limited capacity due to lack of capital; ii) iii) Limited capacity due to lack of space In sufficient capacity due to shortage of supply; iv) 5. MANAGEMENT : I) ii) Bottleneck incretion key processes; Shortage of efficient executive ness; Insufficient capital

The key factor does not create any permanent problem in the business operations since it is possible to solve any problem with proper management action in figure.

Difference between budget and budgetary control:

The budget is an act of planning whereas budgetary control is an act of controlling. The budget concerns itself with the future. Budgetary control, is however, concerned with the present activities although it is prepared on the basis of data collected from the past budget. But the activities that the budgetary control involves are not limited to that budget only. It is also related to the questions as to how far the budget can effectively Utilized in future The budget fixes the target and budgetary control helps to arrive at that target. The actual performance is measured not by the budget by budgetary control. But this is not performed by budgets of course;nthey are extremely useful at the time of preparing a revised budget.

BHARTI AIRTEL
Bharti Airtel Limited, commonly known as Airtel, is an Indian multinational telecommunications services company headquartered at New Delhi, India. It operates in 20 countries across South Asia, Africa and the Channel Islands. Airtel has GSM network in all countries in which it operates, providing 2G, 3G and 4G services depending upon the country of operation. Airtel is the world's third largest mobile telecommunications company with over 261 million subscribers across 20 countries as of August 2012. It is the largest cellular service provider in India, with 183.61 million subscribers as of November 2012. Airtel is the third largest in-country mobile operator by subscriber base, behind China Mobile and China Unicom.

Airtel is the largest provider of mobile telephony and second largest provider of fixed telephony in India, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services. It offers its telecom services under the airtel brand, and is headed by Sunil Bharti Mittal. Bharti Airtel is the first Indian telecom service provider to achieve Cisco Gold Certification. It also acts as a carrier for national and international long distance communication services. The company has a submarine cable landing station at Chennai, which connects the submarine cable connecting Chennai and Singapore. Airtel is credited with pioneering the business strategy of outsourcing all of its business operations except marketing, sales and finance and building the 'minutes factory' model of low cost and high volumes. The strategy has since been copied by several operators. Its network base stations, microwave links, etc.is maintained by Ericsson and Nokia Siemens Network whereas business support is provided by IBM, and transmission towers are maintained by another company (Bharti Infratel Ltd. in India). Ericsson agreed for the first time to be paid by the minute for installation and maintenance of their equipment rather than being paid up front, which allowed Airtel to provide low call rates of 1/minute (US$0.02/minute). During the last financial year (200910), Bharti negotiated for its strategic partner Alcatel-Lucent to manage the network infrastructure for the tele-media business. On 31 May 2012, Bharti Airtel awarded the three-year contract to Alcatel-Lucent for setting up an Internet Protocol access network (mobile backhaul) across the country. This would help consumers access internet at faster speed and high quality internet browsing on mobile handsets

History
Sunil Mittal founded the Bharti Group. In 1983, Mittal was in an agreement with Germany's Siemens to manufacture push-button telephone models for the Indian market. In 1986, Mittal incorporated Bharti Telecom Limited (BTL), and his company became the first in India to offer push-button telephones, establishing the basis of Bharti Enterprises. By the early 1990s, Sunil Mittal had also launched the country's first fax machines and its first cordless telephones. In 1992, Mittal won a bid to build a cellular phone network in Delhi. In 1995, Mittal incorporated the cellular operations as Bharti Tele-Ventures and launched service in Delhi. In 1996, cellular service was extended to Himachal Pradesh. In 1999, Bharti Enterprises acquired control of JT

Holdings, and extended cellular operations to Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. In 2000, Bharti acquired control of Skycell Communications, in Chennai. In 2001, the company acquired control of Spice Cell in Calcutta. Bharti Enterprises went public in 2002, and the company was listed on Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange of India. In 2003, the cellular phone operations were rebranded under the single Airtel brand. In 2004, Bharti acquired control of Hexacom and entered Rajasthan. In 2005, Bharti extended its network to Andaman and Nicobar. This expansion allowed it to offer voice services all across India. In 2009, Airtel launched its first international mobile network in Sri Lanka. In 2010, Airtel acquired the African operations of the Kuwait based Zain Telecom.In March 2012,Airtel launched a mobile operation in Rwanda. Today, Airtel is the largest cellular service provider in India and the fourth largest in the world. On 26 February 2013, Airtel announced that it had deployed Ericssons Mobile Broadband Charging (MBC) solution and completely modernized its prepaid services for its subscribers in India. As a part of the deal, Ericssons multi service MBC suite allows prepaid customers to have personalized profile based data charging plans. Prepaid customers will be able to customize their data plans across mobility, fixed line and broadband by cross bundling across multiple domains (2G, 3G, 4G/LTE & Wi-Fi). It will also offer flexible multi service charging in geographical redundant mode, making Airtel the first operator to implement geographical redundancy at such a large scale.[13]

Corporate Structure
Airtel's initial corporate structure concentrated on the hierarchy of the operations inside the company as a whole. The structure depicted the corresponding operation/region of different incharges and it didn't hold anyone responsible for each of its services. So, the company found it better to restructure its corporate hierarchy. The transformed organisational structure has two distinct Customer Business Units (CBU) with clear focus on B2C (Business to Customer) and B2B (Business to Business) segments. Bharti Airtel's B2C business unit will comprehensively service the retail consumers, homes and small offices, by combining the erstwhile business units - Mobile, Telemedia, Digital TV, and other emerging businesses (like M-commerce, M-health,

M-advertising etc.). The B2C organization will consist of Consumer Business and Market Operations.The organisation have changed the style of the company as the company do nat have any brand logo till the time.

Worldwide presence
Coverage map of Bharti Airtel across 20 countries Airtel is the first largest mobile operator in the world in terms of subscriber base and has a commercial presence in 20 countries and the Channel Islands.

Its area of operations include:

The Indian Subcontinent:

o o o

Airtel Bangla, in Bangladesh Airtel, in India Airtel Sri Lanka, in Sri Lanka

Airtel Africa, which operates in 17 African countries:

o

Burkina Faso, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.

The British Crown Dependency islands of Jersey and Guernsey, under the brand name Airtel-Vodafone, through an agreement with Vodafone.

Airtel operates in the following countries: Country Site Airtel Bangladesh Bangladesh Remarks Airtel Bangladesh had about 5.1 million customers at the end of June 2011.[14]

Burkina Airtel Burkina Airtel Burkina Faso is the dominant player with 1,433,000 Faso Faso customers representing 50% market share.[15]

Chad Democratic Republic of the Congo Gabon

Airtel Chad

Airtel Chad is the #1 operator with 69% market share.[15]

Airtel DRC

Airtel is the market leader with almost 5 million customers at the end of 2010.

Airtel Gabon

Airtel Gabon has 829,000 customers and its market share stood at 61%.[16] Airtel Ghana had about 1.76 million customers at the end of 2010.[17] Airtel is the market leader with almost 183.5 million customers at the end of 2010. Airtel Kenya is the second largest operator and has 4 million customers.[18] Airtel holds second place in the mobile telecom market in Madagascar, has a 39% market share and over 1.4 million customers.[15]

Ghana

Airtel Ghana

India

Airtel

Kenya

Airtel Kenya

Airtel Madagascar Madagascar

Malawi Airtel Malawi Airtel Malawi is the market leader with a market share of 72%.[15] Niger Airtel Niger Airtel Niger is the market leader with a 68% market share.[15]

Nigeria Airtel Nigeria Republic of Airtel B the Congo Congo Airtel Congo is the market leader with a 55% market share.[15]

Rwanda Airtel Rwanda Airtel launched services in Rwanda on 30 March 2012.[19] Airtel Seychelles Seychelles Airtel Leone Airtel Sri Airtel Sri Lanka commenced operations on 12 January 2009. It Sierra Airtel is the leading comprehensive telecommunications services providers with over 55% market share of mobile market in Seychelles.[20]

Sierra Leone Sri

Lanka Tanzania

Lanka Airtel Tanzania

had about 1.8 million mobile customers at the end of 2010.[17] Airtel Tanzania is the market leader with a 38% market share.[15] Airtel Uganda stands as the #2 operator with a market share of 38%.[15]

Uganda Airtel Uganda

Zambia Airtel Zambia Airtel Zambia is the market leader with 69% market share. Channel Islands : Jersey Guernsey Jersey and Guernsey are British Crown Dependencies. They are not independent countries. Therefore, Airtel's
countries of operation is considered to be 20.

Airtel Vodafone

Airtel operates in the Channel Islands under the brand name AirtelVodafone through an agreement with Vodafone.

Mobile Services
Airtel operates in all telecom circles of India. Its network is present in 5,121 census towns and 457,053 non-census towns and villages, covering approximately 86.6% of the countrys population as of September 2012.[21] Airtel is the 6th most valued brand according to an annual survey conducted by Brand Finance and The Economic Times in 2010.[22][23] 3G On 18 May 2010, the 3G spectrum auction was completed and Airtel paid the Indian government 122.95 billion (US$2.24 billion) for spectrum in 13 circles, the most amount spent by an operator in that auction. Airtel won 3G licences in 13 telecom circles of India: Delhi, Mumbai, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh (East), Rajasthan, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Assam, North East, and Jammu & Kashmir.[24] Airtel also operates 3G services in Maharastra & Goa and Kolkata circles through an agreement with Vodafone and in

Gujarat through an agreement with Idea. This gives Airtel a 3G presence in 15 out of 22 circles in India. On 20 September 2010, Bharti Airtel said that it had given contracts to Ericsson India, Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) and Huawei Technologies to set up infrastructure for providing 3G services in the country. These vendors would plan, design, deploy and maintain 3GHSPA (third generation, high speed packet access) networks in 13 telecom circles where the company had won 3G licences. While Airtel awarded network contracts for seven 3G circles to Ericsson India, NSN would manage networks in three circles. Chinese telecom equipment vendor Huawei Technologies was introduced as the third partner for three circles.[25] On 24 January 2011, Airtel launched 3G services in Bangalore, Karnataka its largest circle by revenue. With this launch, Airtel became the third private operator (fifth overall) to launch its 3G services in the country following Tata Docomo and Reliance Communications.[26] On 27 January 2011, Airtel launched 3G in Chennai and Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu. On 27 July 2011, 3G services were launched
[27]

in

Kerala's

largest

cities

Kochi,

Kozhikode

and

Thiruvananthapuram.

Airtel 3G services are available in 200 cities through its network and in 500 cities through intracircle roaming arrangements with other operators. Airtel had about 5.4 million 3G customers of which 4 million are 3G data customers as of September 2012.[21] 4G On 19 May 2010, the broadband wireless access (BWA) or 4G spectrum auction in India ended. Airtel paid 33.1436 billion (US$603.21 million) for spectrum in 4 circles: Maharashtra, Karnataka, Punjab and Kolkata.[28] The company was allocated 20 MHz of BWA spectrum in 2.3 GHz frequency band. Airtel's TD-LTE network is built and operated by ZTE in Kolkata, Huawei in Karnataka, Ericsson in Punjab and Nokia Siemens Networks in Maharashtra.[29] On 10 April 2012, Airtel launched 4G services using TD-LTE technology in Kolkata, becoming the first company in India to offer 4G services. The Kolkata launch was followed by launches in Bangalore (7 May 2012)[30] and Pune (18 October 2012).[31] It will launch services next in Chandigarh.

Airtel plans to provide voice services for its TD-LTE subscribers through its existing GSM network, which would make it the only operator in India to combine voice with TD-LTE services through GSM network. Airtel selected Nokia Siemens Networks to deploy its Circuit Switched FallBack (CSFB) voice solution in Airtels TD-LTE network in Pune. With CSFB, the network can transfer customers to GSM platform to make and receive voice calls while retaining the TDLTE network for data services.[33] On 24 May 2012, Airtel announced an agreement to acquire a 49% stake in Qualcomm Asia Pacific (India). Qualcomm holds 4G spectrum and licenses in Delhi, Haryana, Kerala and Mumbai. As per the agreement, by the end of 2014, Airtel will assume full ownership and financial responsibility for 4G operations in these 4 circles.[34] Airtel had 3180 4G subscribers as of May 2012.[35] WiFi Airtel has plans to launch WiFi services in India. It intends to start offering WiFi services in Delhi NCR, Mumbai and Bangalore in initial phase. All plans will be on secure wireless broadband internet with unlimited usage and will be session or time based. Users can use the service by finding a hotspot, selecting 'airtel WiFi Zone', activating the voucher and then login to start browsing. Airtel intends to partner with establishments to setup hotspots which will be termed WiFi Hangout for an establishment owner and WiFi Partner for the cafe and restaurant owners. Airtel WiFi Partners can offer services at zero investments and can earn commission on every WiFi session sold.[36] Airtel Money Airtel has started a new mCommerce platform called Airtel Money in collaboration with Infosys and SmartTrust (now Giesecke & Devrient). The platform was launched on April 5, 2012, at Infosys' headquarters in Bangalore. Using Airtel Money, users can transfer money, pay bills and perform other financial transactions directly on the mobile phone. [37]

SmartDrive SmartDrive is navigation app exclusive to Airtel customers. The app features voice-based turn by turn navigation, real time information update on traffic, approximate time of the travel on the basis of the traffic situation on the various routes and also lets users see their location on the map and plan the journey accordingly. It also suggests the subscriber an alternate route in case of traffic congestion on the normal route. According to Airtel, SmartDrive calculates the traffic on the basis of the number of GPS devices used on a particular road, their average speed, as well as historical trends of traffic on that route. SmartDrive also allows users to search for points of interest like restaurants, theatres and shopping malls. The app also allows users to keep a record of all trips they make when using voice navigation for later reference through the 'Trip Recorder' feature, Wikipedia information of places for which information is available and the ability to add frequently visited locations to favorites, in addition to weather information about the place. Airtel will offer navigation at 10 per day or 99 per month. Live traffic will be cost 3 per day or 49 per month. Search and map viewer are available for free. The costs do not include data charges. Airtel states in SmartDrive's FAQ that data is only used when the user performs searches or calculates routes. The app is developed by Wisepilot, a mobile navigation solutions provider and uses Navteq Maps for location and traffic info.[38] It was launched on 12 September 2012.[39] At the time of launch, it was available only in Bangalore, Mumbai and NCR.[40] Services are currently available in Chennai.[41] Service will be expanded to Pune and Hyderabad by December 2012. Network Experience Centre Airtel has a Network Experience Centre (NEC) which observes end to end customer experience, in near real time, along with the standard network elements on Airtel's operations. The NEC is located in in Manesar, Haryana and went live on 31 October 2012. It is the first such facility in India and will be able to monitor Airtel's network performance across mobile, fixed line, broadband, DTH, M-Commerce, enterprise services, International Cable Systems and internet peering points from a single location. It will monitor all Airtel and partner NOCs. In case of an

emergency, the NEC will enable the operator to prioritize actions to restore normalcy and reduce resolution time. The NEC houses a video wall with 3600 square feet of solid state LED screen to monitor Airtel's telecom network. This is the world's biggest video wall for a telecom operator. Each cube in this wall is 1.6mx1.2 m and there are 175 cubes arranged in a 25x7 matrix.[42]The clear span of the roof is 49 m x 18 m and the beams, which are fireproof and about 8 feet deep, have been specially designed to hold the structure without columns. The NEC was designed specifically to be used as a command center in case of national emergencies and natural catastrophes. The facility is earthquake proof and also provides for a single control of command and a fully redundant technology layout.[43] iPhone The iPhone 3G was rolled out in India in 2008 by Airtel. However, high prices and contract bonds discouraged consumers and it was not as successful as the iPhone is in other markets of the world. Airtel introduced the iPhone 4 on 27 May 2011 and the iPhone 5 on 2 November 2012.[44]

Telemedia
Under the Telemedia segment, Airtel provides broadband internet access through DSL, internet leased lines as well as MPLS (multiprotocol label switching) solutions, as well as IPTV and fixed line telephone services. Until 18 September 2004, Bharti provided fixed line telephony and broadband services under the Touchtel brand. Bharti now provides all telecom services including fixed line services under a common brand airtel. As of September 2012, Airtel provides Telemedia services to 3.3 million customers in 87 cities.[21] As on 30 November 2012, Airtel had 1.39 million broadband subscribers.[45] Airtel Broadband provides broadband and IPTV services. Airtel provides both capped as well as unlimited download plans. However, Airtel's unlimited plans are subject to free usage policy (FUP), which reduces speed after the customer crosses a certain data usage limit. In some plans,

Airtel provides only 256kbit/s beyond FUP, which is lower than the TRAI specified limit of half the subscriber's original speed.[46][47] The maximum speed available for home users is 16Mbit/s. Airtel Broadband Blocking TPB In May 2012, Airtel Broadband and some other Indian ISPs temporarily blocked file sharing websites such as vimeo.com megavideo.com, thepiratebay.se etc. with out giving any legal information to the customers. The block was due to a Madras High Court issued John Doe order taken by Chennai-based Copyright Lab.[48] In response to a petition filed by Vinay B, a resident of Shimoga, Karnataka, the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum ordered Airtel to pay 20,000 to the petitioner for "deficiency in internet service" thereby causing mental agony to the complainant. By misinterpreting the Madras High Court order, Airtel blocked entire websites. It is needless to say that the companys actions amount to deficiency in service as well as unfair trade practice, said the forum