Vodafone is highest quality of competition, says Bharti

New Delhi, Apr 27 (UNI) Bharti Airtel today said Vodafone is the ''highest quality of competition'' for the leading mobile phone services firm and it expects extensive network sharing with Hutch during the current fiscal.

Bharti, country's third-most valuable firm with a market capitalisation of more than 40 billion dollars, said it expects growth momentum to continue, helped by a surge in mobile users.

''We have a 27 per cent network share at present. With Vodafone coming, we expect about 70-80 per cent network sharing with Hutch during 2007-08,'' Bharti Chairman and Managing Director Sunil Mittal said.

The demand for telecom services across all segments will remain buoyant and Bharti envisages that the growth momentum can be sustained, he told reporters.

India's mobile user base grew 68 per cent to 166.05 million in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2007.

Communication and IT Minister Dayanidhi Maran said the overall telecom base in India will reach 250 million by August from 206.83 million at present.

Besides, the number of connections are targeted to double to 500 million by 2010, he said on Wednesday.

UNI