Airtel Rwanda’s mother company, Bharti Airtel, has crossed the 300 million-subscriber mark across all its operations, the global telecom firm announced in a media statement yesterday.

Bharti Airtel, with operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa, started operations in 1995. It hit the 100 million-subscriber mark in 2009 and the 200 million-client milestone in 2012. 

The company ranks fourth-largest mobile service provider globally, and second-largest globally outside China.

Christian de Faria, the Airtel Africa chief executive officer, said the milestone underlined the strength of the firm’s operations.

"Today, telecommunications is at the heart of transformation, which, going forward will be driven as much by the force of technology as by the changing demographics in emerging markets across Asia and Africa,” he said.

He said accelerated data consumption by the youth would play an important role going forward.

In Africa, Bharti Airtel is the largest mobile operator in terms of geographical footprint, with presence in 17 countries and over 70 million subscribers. 

Airtel entered the Rwandan market in April 2012 and has over one million subscribers presently.