Bharti buys out BT's stakes in JVs

NEW DELHI, APRIL 5. Telecom major Bharti Enterprises today announced the acquisition of the U.K. company British Telecom's stakes in two of its joint venture companies, Bharti BT Internet and Bharti-BT.

The company, however, did not disclose how much it paid to BT for the acquisition. BT held 49 per cent stake in the Internet JV and 50 per cent in Bharti-BT, which was a JV for V-Sat services.

Company spokesperson Ms. Heman Sachdeva told PTI ``As per the guidelines with British Telecom we are not in a position to divulge the details", but added that deals were completed in the last few weeks.

The acquisition is part of Bharti's restructuring under which four of its companies were merged into a single entity - Bharti Broadband Networks Ltd. - the company said in a statement.

The companies merged are Bharti BT Internet, Bharti BT V-Sat, Bharti Broadband Services and their holding company Bharti Telespatile.

Bharti said acquisitions and mergers were part of the new strategic vision and framework for providing the consumer with high-quality integrated broadband network services. Ms. Sachdeva said British Telecom was still a partner in some of the Bharti ventures like cellular services in Delhi. Officials of British Telecom, which has been hinting at cutting down its operations in India and Asia, were not immediately available for comments.

Mr. Sunil Mittal, chairman of Bharti Enterprises, said ``The strategic marketing and business rationale of the merger was truly overwhelming. We believe that this merger will create a single entity which will emerge as one of the strongest integrated broadband players in India."

Mr. Badri Agarwal, president of Bharti's basic services, has been given the charge of the new merged entity, the statement said adding taking over the stake of British Telecom was a result of `new strategic vision and restructuring'.

The company said ``The merger follows Bharti's strategic decision to develop a common platform for developing integrated business solutions for customers in different market segments in the areas of Internet and broadband services".

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Section  : Business
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