Bharti airtel is in discussions with Etisalat, MTN, France Telecom (Orange), Millicom and Vodafone, for sharing telecom infrastructure, such as towers and fibre, in Africa.
According to Manoj Kohli, CEO, international operations, Bharti airtel, “We have hived off the towers in all African countries we operate into separate companies and have 16 tower companies. Talks have started for sharing, but it is too early to predict if we can replicate the Indus model in Africa.?
Bharti is attempting a model similar to that of Indus Towers, which it jointly owns with Vodafone Essar and Idea Cellular, and the trio has combined their physical infrastructure assets in this company. Bharti and Vodafone have a 42 per cent stake each in this tower company, while the rest is owned by Idea Cellular.
Outlining the company’s focus areas for its African operations in the immediate future, Kohli said the 16 independent tower companies would soon begin building new infrastructure to expand their geographic coverage. “The other two future plans are leading the Africa market for 3G services and launching mobile commerce services in all 16 markets. We have 3G airwaves in 10 countries there. We will be launching mobile commerce in eight countries this fiscal and will extend these services to the remaining eight next year, he added.
Kohli said Bharti will also encourage its partners, which it has taken to Africa, to avail the $5 billion credit that the Indian government has extended to that continent to boost ties.
