Bharti-Orange Pact: A step to mitigate Africa biz losses?

NEW DELHI: France-based telco Orange and Bharti Airtel have entered into an exclusive agreement for sell out of the latter's four subsidiaries in Africa.

"The possible acquisition by Orange of Airtel’s subsidiaries (are been explored) in Burkina Faso, Chad, Congo Brazzaville and Sierra Leone. There is no certainty of any binding agreement as a result of these discussions," a statement said.

It should be noted here that Indian telco Bharti Airtel, which offers services in 17 countries of Africa, had been recording losses from its African business. For the quarter ended March 2015, Airtel’s Africa revenues fell by 13 percent year-on-year, while net loss widened to $183 million.

The company entered into Africa in 2010 with acquisition of Zain Telecom’s assets for $10.7 billion, one of the largest acquisitions by an Indian telecom firm.

Earlier this month, it completed the sale of mobile towers in five African countries for $1.3 billion to cut its huge debt, which stands at $10.67 billion.