Bharti Airtel Limited (Airtel) will be taking over Telenor’s India operations in a 100 percent acquisition. Airtel will take the complete control of Telenor India’s operations, licenses and operations, which will also include all the employees of the company as well as its customer base.
Chief Executive Officer of Telenor Group, Sigve Brekke said, “The decision to exit India has not been taken lightly. After thorough consideration, it is our view that the significant investments needed to secure Telenor India’s future business on a standalone basis would not have given an acceptable level of return.”
Gopal Vittal, Managing Director and CEO (India and South Asia), Bharti Airtel, said, “On completion, the proposed acquisition will undergo seamless integration, both on the customer as well as the network side and further strengthen our market position considerably in several key circles,”
The acquisition needs necessary approvals from the regulatory authorities, such as from the Department of Telecommunications in India (DoT) as well as the Competition Commission of India. Telenor will retain the exposure to the claims for the time period when Telenor has ownership of operations. The acquisition is likely to be completed in a period of 12 month.
By Premji
