e&
ETISALAT
ETISALAT
Emirates Telecommunications Corporation “Etisalat” (ETISALAT.ADX) entered talks to purchase Bharti Airtel’s Sri Lankan unit over the past 5 months. A deal could be announced in January 2014. Bharti Airtel launched its Sri Lankan operation in 2009, but failed to gain significant traction and had just under 2mn subscribers.
Despite investing more than USD300mn in its roll out, the unit continues to make a loss. Etisalat, which entered Sri Lanka in February 2010 through the acquisition of Tigo, a subsidiary of Millicom International Cellular, has performed well in the country, and is now the third biggest operator. In February, Etisalat Sri Lanka and Alcatel-Lucent signed a joint agreement at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, to deploy an LTE-FDD in the country. Bharti Airtel on the other hand, did not participate in Sri Lanka’s LTE spectrum auction, raising doubts about its long-term commitment to the country, according to Mubasher Trade and Research.
Despite investing more than USD300mn in its roll out, the unit continues to make a loss. Etisalat, which entered Sri Lanka in February 2010 through the acquisition of Tigo, a subsidiary of Millicom International Cellular, has performed well in the country, and is now the third biggest operator. In February, Etisalat Sri Lanka and Alcatel-Lucent signed a joint agreement at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, to deploy an LTE-FDD in the country. Bharti Airtel on the other hand, did not participate in Sri Lanka’s LTE spectrum auction, raising doubts about its long-term commitment to the country, according to Mubasher Trade and Research.
Source:
Mubasher
