The four markets represent 10% to 12% of Bharti Airtel’s subscribers in Africa
Orange and Bharti Airtel have entered into an exclusive agreement to explore the possible acquisition by Orange of Airtel’s subsidiaries in Africa’s Burkina Faso, Chad, Congo Brazzaville and Sierra Leone, the companies said in a joint statement.
However, the companies said that there is no certainty of any binding agreement as a result of the discussions. These four markets represent nearly 12% of the estimated 76 million subscribers that Bharti Airtel has in Africa, according to press reports. Also, these operations represent nearly 16% of the operator’s overall revenue in Africa.
Bharti Airtel entered the African market in 2010 after purchasing the assets of Zain Telecom for approximately $10 billion.
The talks with Orange are being held by Bharti Airtel’s subsidiary Bharti Airtel International (Netherlands).
The Indian company also said that it has no plans to exit the African market.
“Airtel is well-positioned in the remaining countries and there is significant growth upside available. We remain fully committed to our Africa operations and have no plan to exit,” The Hindu Business Line reported, citing a company spokesman.
Earlier this month, Bharti Airtel announced it had obtained nearly $1.3 billion from the sale of its telecommunication towers in five African markets. In a note to the National Stock Exchange of India, the company said the proceeds from the transactions will be used to reduce the operator’s debt.
According to local press reports, the Indian telecom firm has already completed the sale of its towers in Nigeria, Uganda, Ghana, Rwanda and Congo Brazzaville.
Bharti Airtel has operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa. In India, Airtel’s product offerings include 2G, 3G and “4G” wireless services, m-commerce, fixed-line services, high-speed broadband, IPTV, DTH and enterprise services. In other geographies, the telco offers 2G, 3G, 4G and m-commerce services.
Present in 29 countries, Orange had a total customer base of 247 million customers worldwide at the end of March, including 188 million mobile customers and 16 million fixed-broadband customers. In Africa and the Middle East, Orange had 97.5 million subscribers at the end of Q1.
