Vodafone considering raising stake in Bharti

Vodafone considering raising stake in Bharti

UK-based Vodafone Group is the world’s largest mobile service providers and they already hold a stake in the Indian telecom company Bharti.

The latest news in is that Vodafone is now considering to increase its equity stake in Bharti Tele-Ventures. Vodafone had last year picked up a 10% stake in this group, which operates the Airtel branded telecom and broadband services in India.

Vodafone is hoping that India would provide them a growing market in the future to expand into. Arun Sarin, chief executive officer (CEO), Vodafone Group Plc spoke on this development: “We are open to the idea. Let us see…even if we are willing to buy shares, someone else should also be willing to sell.”

He further said: “We do not have plans of picking up stake in any other Indian telecom company. Once we are married to a company, we stay with it. Currently, the share of emerging market in our global business is around 15 per cent. In the next five years, it is likely to become 30 per cent and India will be play a major role in it.”

Sarin added: “Our aim is to significantly increase our coverage within the next few years in India. That would require a huge amount of capital.” This form of investment would be good news for Airtel, as they need the capital to expand their operations in the Indian market.