Bharti eyes $5bn from Africa
“We are extremely satisfied with our African acquisition... there was an expectation I had given that by May 2013, we will achieve $5 billion revenue and $2 billion EBITDA [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortisation], and we are on track for that target,” Bharti Airtel CEO (international) and joint MD Manoj Kohli says.
Last year, in the largest telecoms takeover by an Indian firm, Bharti acquired Kuwait-based Zain Telecom's African business for $10.70 billion.
The closure of the deal implied that Bharti had received all the necessary approvals from the governments and regulators of each of the 16 nations it operates in, reports IT News Africa.
On acquiring a top position across the African continent, Kohli said MTN is very competitive, but “we are digging our heels and are trying to get our foundation, network customer services right. If foundation is right, leadership is not far away”.
Currently, MTN holds the leading position in Africa's mobile market, and Kohli said Airtel hopes to dethrone MTN as the African market leader.
However, domain-b.com reveals that during 2010/11, Airtel's African operations posted a Rs480 crore loss, even as revenues stood at Rs13 083 crore.
Share
