Incorporated in 1985, Bharti Telecom (BTL) was promoted by R B Mittal and associates. BTL manufactures and markets electronic push button telephone instruments, telephone answering machines and cordless telephones.
In 1994, BTL came out with a rights issue at a premium, to participate in the equity of Bharti Cellular (BCL), a new company co-promoted with CCE, France, EMTEL, Mauritius and Mobile Systems, the UK, to operate cellular mobile telephone services. BCL, which provides cellular phone services in Delhi is the first telecom company in India to get the ISO-9002 accredition for its production facilities in Gurgaon.
In 1994-95, BTL entered into a strategic alliance with Casio and Mitsui of Japan to manufacture and market radio pagers. It also promoted a joint venture -- Siemens Telecom, with Siemens to market telecom terminals and GSM cellular phones of Siemens. During the year, it acquired Goa Telecommunications and Systems to manufacture telecom transmission products.
BTL promoted Bharti Tele-Ventures in 1995-96, to promote telecom service projects. Another company, Bharti Telenet, was formed in collaboration with STET, Italy, to commence cellular operations in Himachal Pradesh.