Bharti Airtel to Invest $9 billion in Network Upgrade Under Project Leap

India's largest mobile operator, Bharti Airtel this week announced Project Leap, where the operator will invest 600 billion rupees ($8.98 billion) over three years to upgrade its network. The investment comes at a time when competition continues to stiffen in India's mobile market with the impending entry of the new player Reliance Jio Infocomm as well as new service launches by existing rivals Vodafone and Idea Cellular.

Airtel said on Monday that the bulk of its $9 billion investment would be used on infrastructure to improve voice and data services in a country known for its poor mobile connectivity. Gopal Vittal, Bharti Airtel's chief executive for India and South Asia, said the planned investment, to be raised largely through cash accruals, includes the capital expenditure target of about $2.2 billion for the current fiscal year to March 2016.