Archana Aggarwal, who was vice president of media at Airtel has quit the telco after more than 10 years. Aggarwal said, “Ten years ago, I embarked on a new journey in a new city and a new company called Airtel. Little did I know then that this journey would become one of the most enriching and transformative experiences of my life.”
Aggarwal added, “As I bid farewell to Airtel, I am humbled by the incredible opportunities, challenges, and moments of triumph that have shaped me into the professional I am today. From navigating through dynamic industry shifts to leading impactful projects and fostering meaningful relationships, every step of the way has been a remarkable learning experience.” She has previously been associated with P&G, Unilever, L’Oreal, and Coca Cola.
Among the Aggarwal’s achievements at Airtel is her work for its 5G launch in the country with a tech enabled innovation – Ultimate Fan (fans in their avatars interacting with cricket experts on IPL). She also counts her work in experimenting with R/F plans, programmatic, new platforms like cross screen targeting, Tuttler notifications, Appier etc., as noteworthy. Aggarwal also partnered with Google and Facebook on pilots which are industry case studies and led initiatives that made Airtel one of the first few brands to experiment with Connected TVs and Metaverse.
Airtel 5G push
Bharti Airtel is actively pushing for the adoption of its 5G services and exploring exclusive partnerships with smartphone manufacturers, particularly focusing on price-sensitive customers. The move also aims to increase data consumption on its network, which will help increase average revenue per user (ARPU). Airtel, which had an ARPU of Rs 208 in the third quarter, aims to increase it to Rs 300.
The Sunil Mittal-led company recently signed an exclusive partnership with Xiaomi’s sub-brand Poco to bring down the 5G smartphone price to Rs 8,799, along with data bundling. Moneycontrol had reported recently that Airtel is now in talks with other smartphone makers for similar partnerships, especially in the sub-Rs 10,000 price segment. Airtel’s active user base reached 382.6 million, Jio’s rose to 426.79 million, and Vi’s shrank to 193.85 million, the latest monthly customer data collated by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) showed.