Orange in talks to buy out loss-making Airtel

Mobile operator Airtel is up for sale, again.

Its Indian parent company, Bharti Airtel, has announced that it is negotiating for the possible sale of its subsidiaries in Burkina Faso, Chad, Congo Brazzaville and Sierra Leone to France’s Orange. While Airtel Kenya is exluded in the talks, its business locally could be affected by a possible acquisition by Orange, which has operations in Kenya as well.

Business Daily reports that Bharti, India’s largest mobile telco, has entered into an exclusive deal to explore the options of selling the four businesses to its rival Orange, in its ongoing divestiture from loss-making Africa.

Airtel Kenya, one of the African businesses that Bharti took over from Zain in 2010, is not in the new list of subsidiaries that the Indian firm is keen on selling in the coming months. “There is no certainty of any binding agreement as a result of these discussions, the two firms said in a joint statement.

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Bharti has operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa. Africa operations posted a net loss of $124 million in the three month to March, widening from $91 million posted during a similar period the previous year.

This continued losses have seen the firm initiate talks to sell 3,500 towers across six African countries (including Tanzania and Malawi) to Eaton while 3,100 masts in four other countries will go to Helios.

Of the three players in the Kenyan telecoms industry, market leader Safaricom is the only one that has consistently reported profits. Safaricom controls all segments of the market: voice (84%), SMS (96.4%), mobile data (70%) and mobile money (66.7%).

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