Earlier, the company said that the agreements for sale of tower assets in Democratic Republic of Congo between the respective subsidiaries of Bharti Airtel and Helios Towers Africa have lapsed.
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Bharti Airtel stated on Monday that it was in talks with French telecom firm Orange to sell telecom operations in 4 nations in Africa because the Indian cellular main appears to flip round its struggling operations in the continent. Airtel has a similar deal with MTN between the same two countries.
– Orange has 13.3 mobile money customers 13 countries in Africa and the Middle East, out a total of 101 million mobile customers in the region.
Bharti Airtel Limited has operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa.
The discussions centred on Orange taking over the businesses in the four countries.
“This proposed acquisition is perfectly aligned with Orange’s strategy to continue growing in Africa and we believe that the acquisition of these four operators present a real interest for Orange”, added the spokesperson. Airtel’s Africa business has been making losses since since its entry in 2010.
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The sale of operations in four countries, which accounted for around 16 per cent of its African revenue in the 2014 fiscal year, should also help Bharti cut down a net debt burden of $10.7 billion as of March. See my May 19 blog “Bharti Airtel: A Break-Up Is Better Than a Foreign Marriage”.
