Indian telecom operator Bharti Airtel Ltd. said on Friday it would buy a 4.7 percent stake in cell tower firm Indus Towers Ltd from Vodafone Group Plc. The British telecoms group said earlier this week it was looking to sell its entire 28.1 percent stake in Indus Towers, India’s largest cell tower company, Reuters reported.
Airtel did not disclose the deal value but said it was “protected with a capped price, which is lower than the price for the block of Indus shares sold by Vodafone (Group).”
“This shall be value accretive to Airtel and protect its existing significant shareholding in Indus Towers,” the Sunil Bharti Mittal-helmed company said in a statement.
The deal is on the condition that proceeds from the sale would be infused back into Vodafone Idea Ltd, Airtel said.
India’s telecoms market, one of the world’s biggest, was upended by Reliance Industries’ Jio Infocomm, which launched with free voice and cut-price data in late 2016.
This forced several rivals out of the market while others such as the local unit of Vodafone and India’s Idea Cellular merged.
Debt-laden Vodafone Idea has paid the government Rs. 78.54 billion rupees in dues, but still owes roughly Rs. 500 billion.
Pointing out that the telecom market structure has started to stabilise on account of the efforts of the Indian Government, Airtel said it “supported the government’s desire to have three private operators to serve” the Indian telecom market which is also in the best interest of Indus Towers.
“With the likely introduction of 5G in the future, we believe a lot more infrastructure would be required in which Indus Towers, an undisputed leader, has a significant role to play and partake the potential growth in the business,” the telco said.
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