Post MTN, Bharti looking at other opportunities

Having secured funding commitment for the now-aborted $23 billion MTN deal, Bharti Airtel is likely to look for other opportunities in South Africa and Asian markets.

Bharti Airtel has already put in a bid to acquire Luxembourg-based Millicom's operations in Sri Lanka.

Airtel, which has mobile services running in Sri Lanka, has put in its bid to acquire 100 per cent stake in Millicom, sources close to the development said.

Bharti would move forward from here and there is no reason to sit and look back, they said, adding that first and foremost, the company would look forward to participate in the 3G spectrum auction.

Asked how much commitment Bharti had secured from banks (both domestic and global) and other financial institutions, sources declined to give details but indicated that its was well above $10 billion.

The response from the funding institutions was really encouraging and gives hope to company to go for big deal.

The Nasdaq-listed firm Millicom provides prepaid cellular telephony services to over 30 million customers in 16 emerging markets in Latin America, Africa and Asia.

It has put its assets in Sri Lanka, Laos and Cambodia up for sale and has about two million subscribers in Sri Lanka.