British Telecom Picks Up 22.5% In Bharati Cellular

British Telecom (BT) yesterday announced that it was joining Bharti Cellular Ltd -- the service provider in Delhi -- as a partner with a 22.5 per cent stake .

Bharti Cellular has been valued between $300 million and $400 million (Rs 1,050-1,400 crore), on basis of which a 22.5 per cent share transfer would be pegged between Rs 240 crore and Rs 315 crore.

The stake in the Bharti company gets transferred to BT after it announcedan alliance with Compagnie General Des Eaux (CGE) last September.

CGE was the majority shareholder in the French mobile operator, SFR, which held stake in Delhi cellular licensee. Bharti executives denied that the company had received any payment in the transaction. Bharti had a `right of first refusal' in the agreement with SFR. After the BT investment, the shareholding in Bharti Cellular stands at: Bharti Televentures 51 per cent, BT 22.5 per cent, Emtel of Mauritius 17 per cent, MSI of UK 4.5 per cent, non-resident Indians 3 per cent and STET of Italy 2 per cent.

Bharti Enterprises chairman and group managing director Sunil Mittal expects the tie-up to strengthen its Delhi cellular operations. "BT will have two representatives on the company's board," he said here at a press conference.

BT chairman Sir Iain Vallance said: "India is a key market for us as it is one of the world's largest emerging market for telecom services. I would be surprised if we don't make (additional) investments here in future."

Sources did not rule out BT investments in Bharti's other telecom service ventures. The Delhi group holds a cellular licence in Himachal Pradesh and expects to be awarded the basic telecom licence in Madhya Pradesh.

BT's investment in Bharti Cellular marks the return of the British giant into Indian telecom services. It had withdrawn after its quotes got rejected in the bidding process for basic and cellular services.

The reason the company had cited then was the high licence fees set by the department of telecommunications for the circles after the first round of bidding. It had tied up with the Mahindra group of companies for the bids.