According to a new report, India's leading telecom service provider, Bharti Airtel has now become the fourth largest telecom operator in the world in terms of the number of subscribers.

The latest Wireless Intelligence `Scoreboard' report said that the Indian company had over 250 million mobile subscribers during the first quarter till June 2012. The company recorded a growth of 13 percent in the number of customers compared to the same quarter in the previous year.

"India's Bharti Airtel was the only other member of the top ten to move up the ranking, recording a 13 percent year-on-year rise in connections and leapfrogging Telefonica to become the world's fourth-largest operator group in Q2," the report said.

The report pointed out that the company's revenues amounting to US$3.04 billion during the second quarter of the current financial year reflects company's presence in the ultra low-cost, low-margin Indian and African markets.

The company had emerged as the fifth largest mobile phone operator in the world after it took over Zain Group's mobile operations across 15 African nations in June 2010. It surpassed Telefonica to become the fourth largest in terms of subscribers.

China Mobile topped the list with 683.08 million subscribers, ahead of Vodafone at the number of two position with 386.88 million subscribers and America Movil Group at the third position with 251.83 million subscribers. Telefonica Group completed the top five list with243.51 million subscribers.