Bharti Airtel said on Thursday it would have a new organisation structure for its operations in India and South Asia, effective Aug. 1, to improve efficiency. 

Mobile, fixed-line, digital TV and other consumer businesses such as mobile commerce will be part of the business to customer (B2C) unit, while the business to business (B2B) unit will serve corporates, the company said in a statement. 

Bharti operates in 19 countries across Asia and Africa and is the world's fifth-biggest mobile carrier by subscribers. 

The stock reacted positively and was at Rs 395.45, up Rs 12.25 or 3.20 per cent on the BSE. It touched a high of Rs 397.80 and low of Rs 383.55 in trade so far. 

Bharti's move could provide the trigger for similar action at rivals, many of whom are battling identical issues-debt burden, slowing growth and high marketing spends amid cut-price tariffs. 

Bharti, in its response to specific queries sent by ET last month, confirmed the restructuring, but said it would have "minimal impact on people". "As and when any change is planned, the same will be done in the interest of all stakeholders and shared in an open and transparent manner." 

The company said it had pioneered what it called the "strategic outsourcing model", in which key functions such as networks, technology and customer services are managed not by the company, but by specialist vendors. "Such initiatives wherever and whenever appropriate will find favour at Bharti. Scale and agility backed by synergies and business efficiencies have been the hallmark of Bharti Airtel's growth story. 

Indeed, its outsourcing strategy, which helped it ramp up operations aggressively during its growth phase while keeping a tight grip on costs in a intensely competitive market with cut-price tariffs, has been acclaimed and adopted by telecom operators around the world. The last such big transfer of employees happened in 2009-10 when Alcatel Lucent took on its rolls more than 4,000 employees from Bharti as part of a deal to manage its landline and fibre businesses. Analysts said the latest restructuring was necessary for Bharti. (ET)