The Warid Group has agreed to sell its Congo Brazzaville mobile operator to Indian giant Bharti Airtel for an undisclosed amount, bringing it closer to exiting the mobile industry.
Warid Congo is the third-largest player in the country, with one million…
The Warid Group has agreed to sell its Congo Brazzaville mobile operator to Indian giant Bharti Airtel for an undisclosed amount, bringing it closer to exiting the mobile industry.
Warid Congo is the third-largest player in the country, with one million subscribers while Airtel’s local unit is number two with 1.6 million customers.
The Indian company expects to merge the two operators. This would reduce the number of competitors to three and make the combined entity the largest telco in the country, which has a population of 4.4 million.
Commenting on the transaction Manoj Kohli, the CEO of Bharti Airtel International, said: “This acquisition is in line with our stated strategy of strengthening our market position through in-country acquisitions, as and when suitable opportunities come along.
“We are at an advanced stage of successfully integrating Warid’s Uganda operations with that of Airtel and look forward to a similarly swift transition in Congo Brazzaville as well.”
This deal follows other similar transactions between Airtel and Warid. In July, the Indian operator received approval from Bangladesh to acquire the 30% stake it did not already own in Airtel Bangladesh from Warid.
A few weeks before that, Airtel had agreed to buy Warid Uganda outright from the UAE-based company, which is itself owned by holding company the Abu Dhabi Group.
Warid is also in the process of selling its operations in Pakistan. Number three mobile operator Pakistan Telecommunication Company (PTCL) recently submitted a non-binding offer to acquire 100% of smaller rival Warid Pakistan.
Once these transactions close, Warid will no longer have assets in the wireless telecoms industry.
Airtel gained a strong presence on the African continent when it acquired most of Kuwait-based Zain’s assets there for US$10.7bn in 2010. The Indian operator says it now has operations in 17 African countries and more than 66 million customers on the continent.
