Intermission E03: Airtel

Stream a video, send a message, call a loved one. For nearly 474 million Indians, that connection runs through Bharti Airtel. Over three decades, the company has made it through price wars, near-bankruptcy, a botched overseas acquisition, and two incursions from Reliance. Each time, it weathered the crisis and came back stronger. Investors who held on through every crisis have been rewarded with returns that match the best businesses in India. But the forces that shaped Airtel — regulation,…