NEW DELHI, India—The Bharti Group has bought more than a 26-percent stake from Telia AB in Bharti Mobile, which operates cellular services in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Punjab circles.
The deal was stuck by Bharti Televentures, which is the holding company for Bharti Mobile and other cellular ventures of the group. With this, Bharti gains total control of the cellular operations in the three circles. In other telecom circles too, Bharti has bought stakes of foreign partners to take its stake to 100 percent. “The acquisition will further consolidate our position in the Indian telecom sector,” observed Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman of the Bharti Group.
Telia said the shares are being sold for about 600 million kronors (US$60 million).
“It is part of our efforts to streamline operations and prioritize markets in the Nordic countries and the Baltic states,” a Telia statement said. Per O Pederson, president of Telia Overseas, said Telia is exiting the Indian market for strategic reasons.
Bharti Televentures is the largest cellular service provider operating in seven telecom circles and has a subscriber base of 1.2 million. It plans to provide services in eight more circles. India has 22 telecom circles with a total of 6 million cellular subscribers.
