Bharti dials Bangladesh,may pick 70% in Warid

In a shift of strategy,Bharti Airtel,the countrys largest telecom operator,is close to acquiring a 70 per cent stake in Bangladeshs fourth largest mobile operator,Warid Telecom,for close to $900 million. The deal,likely to be sealed mid-January,comes three months after Bharti failed to secure a deal with South Africas MTN to become the worlds fourth largest mobile firm by subscribers.

Post-deal,management control of Warid Telecom would pass on to Bharti and Bangladeshi media reports say Bharti has submitted an investment plan of $300 million. Bhartis costly acquisition plan is an indication of how the stakes have risen in the telecom sector in the sub-continent; the offer is almost three times the $350 million DoCoMo paid in 2008 to buy a 30 per cent stake in Aktel or TM International,the third ranked operator in Bangladesh.

Warid,which entered the Bangladeshi market as the sixth mobile operator in May 2007,had 2.79 million subscribers by October end,a small share of the 51-million market dominated by Telenor-led Grameenphone. In contrast,in November alone,Bharti added 2.8 million subscribers to its grow-ing subscriber base of over 115 million. Bharti commands 31.63 per cent share of Indias 500-million-plus telecom market.Analysts view Bhartis move as a reversal of its acquisition strategy: instead of going in for big buys,the company is now concentrating on smaller acquisitions,where it can replicate its low-cost,high-volume model and build economies of scale.