Airtel Africa
 |
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| Airtel Africa | |
| Private | |
| Industry | Telecommunication |
| Predecessor | Zain Africa B.V. |
| Founded | 8 June 2010 |
| Headquarters | Keizersgracht 62-64, 1015 CS Amsterdam, Netherlands |
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Area served
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Africa |
| Parent | Bharti Airtel Limited |
| Subsidiaries |
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| Website | africa |
Bharti Airtel International (Netherlands) B.V., doing business as Airtel Africa, is a holding company and a subsidiary of Indian telecommunications company Bharti Airtel. Through its subsidiaries, Airtel Africa provides telecommunication services in 15 African countries.
Nigeria is Airtel's most profitable market, followed by Ghana. As of March 2017, Airtel has 78 million subscribers in the continent.
In May 2008, it emerged that Airtel was exploring the possibility of buying the MTN Group, a South Africa-based telecommunications company with operations in 21 countries in Africa and the Middle East. The Financial Times reported that Bharti was considering offering US$45 billion for a 100% stake in MTN, which would be the largest overseas acquisition ever by an Indian firm. However, both sides emphasised the tentative nature of the talks. The Economist magazine noted, "If anything, Bharti would be marrying up", as MTN had more subscribers, higher revenues and broader geographic coverage. However, the talks fell apart as MTN Group tried to reverse the negotiations by making Bharti almost a subsidiary of the new company.
In May 2009, Airtel confirmed that it was again in talks with MTN and both companies agreed to discuss the potential transaction exclusively by 31 July 2009. Airtel said "Bharti Airtel Ltd is pleased to announce that it has renewed its effort for a significant partnership with MTN Group". The exclusivity period was extended twice up to 30 September 2009. Talks eventually ended without agreement.
A solution was proposed where the new company would be listed on 2 stock exchanges, one in South Africa and one in India. However, dual-listing of companies is not permitted by Indian law.
In Jun 2010, Bharti struck a deal to buy Zain's mobile operations in 15 African countries for $8.97 billion, in India's second biggest overseas acquisition after Tata Steel's US$13 billion buy of Corus in 2007. Bharti Airtel completed the acquisition of on 8 June 2010, making Airtel the world's fifth largest wireless carrier by subscriber base. Airtel reported that its revenues for the fourth quarter of 2010 grew by 53% to $3.2 billion compared to the previous year. The newly acquired Africa division contributed $911 million to the total. However, net profits dropped by 41% from $470 million in 2009 to $291 million 2010 due to a $188 million increase in radio spectrum charges in India and an increase of $106 million in debt interest.
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Wikipedia