Bharti Airtel to buy Warid's share
Friday, 18 December 2009
NEW DELHI, Dec 17 (BSS): India's largest telecom operator Bharti Airtel is close to acquiring a 70 per cent stake in Bangladesh's fourth largest mobile operator, Warid Telecom, for close to US$900 million (around Rs 42 billion).
The deal, likely to be sealed mid-January, comes three months after Bharti failed to secure a deal with South Africa's MTN to become the world's fourth largest mobile firm by subscribers, media reports here said Thursday.
Post-deal, management control of Warid Telecom would pass on to Bharti and Bangladeshi media reports say Bharti has submitted an investment plan of $300 million.
Bharti's costly acquisition plan is an indication of how the stakes have risen in the telecom sector in the sub-continent.
The offer is almost three times the $350 million DoCoMo paid in 2008 to a buy a 30 per cent stake in Aktel or TM International, the third ranked operator in Bangladesh, Indian Express report said.
Warid, which entered Bangladeshi market as the sixth mobile operator in May 2007, had 2.79 million subscribers by October end, a small share of the 51-million market dominated by Telenor-led Grameenphone.
In contrast, in November alone, Bharti added 2.8 million subscribers to its growing subscriber base of over 115 million. Bharti commands 31.63 per cent share of India's 500-million-plus telecom market.
Analysts view Bharti's move as a reversal of its acquisition strategy: instead of going in for big buys, the company is now concentrating on smaller acquisitions, where it can replicate its low-cost, high-volume model and build economies of scale, the Indian Express report said.
The proposed deal would give Bharti access to Bangladesh's rapidly growing mobile sector at a time when it is locked in an intense price war in India with rivals Reliance Communications and Vodafone Essar, the Hindustan Times said.
The deal, likely to be sealed mid-January, comes three months after Bharti failed to secure a deal with South Africa's MTN to become the world's fourth largest mobile firm by subscribers, media reports here said Thursday.
Post-deal, management control of Warid Telecom would pass on to Bharti and Bangladeshi media reports say Bharti has submitted an investment plan of $300 million.
Bharti's costly acquisition plan is an indication of how the stakes have risen in the telecom sector in the sub-continent.
The offer is almost three times the $350 million DoCoMo paid in 2008 to a buy a 30 per cent stake in Aktel or TM International, the third ranked operator in Bangladesh, Indian Express report said.
Warid, which entered Bangladeshi market as the sixth mobile operator in May 2007, had 2.79 million subscribers by October end, a small share of the 51-million market dominated by Telenor-led Grameenphone.
In contrast, in November alone, Bharti added 2.8 million subscribers to its growing subscriber base of over 115 million. Bharti commands 31.63 per cent share of India's 500-million-plus telecom market.
Analysts view Bharti's move as a reversal of its acquisition strategy: instead of going in for big buys, the company is now concentrating on smaller acquisitions, where it can replicate its low-cost, high-volume model and build economies of scale, the Indian Express report said.
The proposed deal would give Bharti access to Bangladesh's rapidly growing mobile sector at a time when it is locked in an intense price war in India with rivals Reliance Communications and Vodafone Essar, the Hindustan Times said.