Bangalore: Telecom conglomerate Bharti Tele-Ventures has unified its brands under the flagship brand of Airtel with an intention to be seen as an integrated telecom services player rather than just operating in the mobile space.

Chief Marketing Officer Atul Bindal told reporters in Bangalore today (Sep 15, 2004) the attempt is to change the perception from "Airtel equals mobile" to "Airtel equals telecom", and position Airtel as a complete telecom services brand.

The company said it had 9.04 million customers as of last month-end, including 8.28 million mobile ones.

Consequent to the new strategy which the company said would result in cost efficiencies and economies of scale, Touchtel and India One brands will now be Airtel.

The company's telecom services have now been clubbed under four heads, Airtel mobile services, Airtel telephone & broadband services, Airtel long distance services and Airtel enterprise services.

Under the Airtel brand, the company would offer a suite of telecom services and solutions ranging from wireless to fixed line, from data & broadband to long distance & enterprise services, officials said.

The company currently offers mobile services in 18 circles and the number would go up to 23 soon with plans to extend the footprint to Bihar, Orissa, Jammu & Kashmir and parts of the North-East, Bindal said.

Asked if price wars in the mobile services space have "bottomed out", he said, "I won't surmise a guess. When I joined Bharti a year ago, I was told the worst is over and the price is as low as it can go".