The number of Bharti Airtel subscribers in Africa has jumped more than 10 million in less than last 12 months to cross milestone of 60 million.

The Indian telecommunications giant said that it has now more than 60 million active subscribers in Africa, where it has operations in 17 countries.

Commenting on the company's growth, Airtel Africa CMO Andre Beyers said, "Since launching the Airtel brand in Africa in 2010, Airtel has been on a steady growth path. The ability to communicate with each other is no longer a privilege on this continent, but a necessity."

Beyers added that the company would grow further by adding more subscribers in African countries via maintaining a strong focus on rural penetration, customer responsiveness and innovation.

The Indian telecommunications firm has recently expanded 3.75G data services across eleven African countries and a mobile commerce service called "Airtel Money" in fifteen markets on the continent.

The accompany aims to completely eliminate the use of diesel to power its network. Over the last one-year period, the company slashed the number of sites running on diesel by over 50 per cent, and swapped the diesel engines with Hybrid Battery Bank.

Bharti Airtel, which operates in twenty countries across South Asia and Africa, jumped one notch in the global ranking to become the fourth largest mobile operator of the world in terms of subscribers.