Airtel gets Warid in Bangladesh

Bharti Airtel began the new year with the announcement of a foray into Bangladesh. It had begun last year on a similar note, obtaining the licence to operate services in Sri Lanka, reports HT Correspondent.

Bharti Airtel began the new year with the announcement of a foray into Bangladesh.

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It had begun last year on a similar note, obtaining the licence to operate services in Sri Lanka.

Bharti has acquired a 70 per cent stake in Warid Telecom of Bangladesh, currently a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Dhabi Group. Warid is a pan-Bangladesh operator and has over 2.9 million subscribers.

The company did not disclose details of the acquisition, only mentioning that it will make a fresh investment of $300 million (Rs 1,368 crore) in Warid, and will have management and board control of the company.

This is the largest investment in Bangladesh by an Indian company. Dhabi Group will retain 30 per cent shareholding.

“This deal underlines our intent to further expand our operations to international markets,” said Sunil Mittal, chairman Bharti Enterprises.