Bharti Airtel, along with Kenya-based telecom operator Safricom, has acquired the Kenya-based mobile telecom service provider, yuMobile for $120 million. yuMobile was a subsidiary of Essar Capital. The deal marks the exit of Essar Capital from the telecom business globally.
According to the agreement, the network, IT, and office infrastructure has been acquired by Safaricom, while Airtel has taken over the 2.55 million subscriber base of yuMobile. With the completion of the deal, Airtel has consolidated its position as the second largest mobile operator in Kenya with a combined customer base of over 8 million, making up 26.6 per cent of the market share.
