Bharti Tele-Ventures, a private telecommunication services provider, has been recognised as one of the best-performing telecom stocks in the Asia Pacific region.

Based on Bloomberg data and further analysis, a telecom analyst at a foreign brokerage found that the Bharti share has risen 51 per cent between April 1 and July 22 this year.

The stock has been pitted against other big regional players such as AIS, China Mobile, Singtel, Globe Telecom, SK Telecom and Maxis Communications.

During the period under the review, AIS share appreciated by 40 per cent, Singtel's by 18 per cent and China Mobile's by 33 per cent.

The Bharti stock has also beat its local peers, Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd.

During the reported period, the VSNL share rose by 49 per cent, while that of MTNL remained flat.

The telecom analyst attributes the success of Bharti Tele share to the substantial increase in the company's subscriber base, which in turn was due to its free incoming charges and the position it has in the industry.

Bharti Tele has an aggregate of 41.75 lakh (4.175 million) customers as on June 30, 2003. Out of this, 37.51 lakh (3.751 million) are mobile subscriber while 423,758 are fixed-line customers.

"The company has the best footprint among all the private GSM players. It is the leader in the wireless business in terms of subscriber base, and has been able to broadly maintain its market share," the analyst said.

During the first quarter of this fiscal, Bharti Tele strengthened its leadership position by improving its market share. In June this year, after the implementation of level-playing field, the company achieved leadership in all-India net additions by taking a 24.8 per cent share.

According to a recent report by J P Morgan on the Indian telecom industry, Bharti Tele's current market capitalisation is $1.5 billion. Other telecom analysts also said one of the key reasons that they have a positive outlook on Bharti is the likely stability in tariffs.

"We believe that further tariff cuts will be muted and not as significant as we saw in the past. We have already demonstrated the high degree of profitability at current tariff levels," said the J P Morgan report.

Currently, Bharti offers mobile services in 15 out of 22 circles in the country. As of June 30 this year, roughly 91 per cent of the total number of mobile subscribers in the country reside in Bharti's circles, according to the Cellular Operators Association of India.

While announcing its quarterly results, the company said it seeks to capitalise in on the growth opportunities that it believes are available in the Indian market, and also consolidate its position to become an integrated telecommunications service provider with a focus on mobile services.