Fitch Rating has affirmed Bharti Airtel’s rating at ‘BBB-‘ while affirming the outlook on its long term foreign currency issuer default ring (IDR) and senior unsecured guaranteed bonds as stable.
Fitch also affirmed Bharti Airtel International (Netherlands) B.V’s senior unsecured bonds at ‘BBB-’.
Fitch expects Airtel’s diversified cash flow to keep growing which will help the balance sheet stay strong and fund high 5G related capex investments. The ratings agency stated that a strong market position in the growing and fast-consolidating Indian wireless market and integrated operations will continue supporting profitability and high ratings headroom for Airtel.
The agency expects Airtel to invest around $3-4 billion in rolling out 5G networks, which is much less than Reliance Jio that is expected to invest $13-14 billion to rollout its standalone 5G network during the next three-four years.
