Bharti Airtel close to clinching $2-3bn deal for sale of its African towers

Bharti Airtel, India's biggest telecom operator, is expected to soon reach a deal to sell its over 15,000 towers in Africa for about $2-3 billion, which will help it reduce debt, according to reports today.

Bharti, the world's fourth largest telecom operator as well as India's biggest, is said to have shortlisted four potential buyers, which include Helios Towers Africa, American Tower Corp and Eaton Towers.

None of the companies concerned were willing to comment on the report which seems to have originated in The Economic Times.

The net debt of Bharti Airtel at the end of March 2014 stood at Rs60,541.6 crore.

The company has been trying to sell its tower assets in Africa for some time, but has been unable to clinch a deal.

Airtel had entered the African market in 2010 after acquiring Zain Telecom for $10.7 billion. The company now offers services in 17 African countries, but is yet to show a profit in a market which is very different from India's, where Bharti cut its teeth.

In order to reduce debt, the company has also been raising money through foreign currency bonds. Last month, it raised around $2 billion in a dual currency international bond sale. And in March this year, the company had raised around Rs2,453.2 crore through issue of bonds in the Swiss market.

In December 2013, the Sunil Mittal-led firm had raised €750 million (about Rs6,350 crore) in the first such bond issue by an corporate and received bids worth euro 3.8 billion. The company than re-opened the issue in January and raised €250 million.

Airtel Africa witnessed 2 per cent growth in revenues for the fourth quarter of FY 14, with revenues at $1.14 billion.

At the same time, net loss for the region widened to $124 million as compared to a loss of $91 million in the corresponding quarter last year.

''The quarter was impacted by the seasonal downturn in parts of Africa and regulatory interventions in Nigeria,'' Bharti Airtel managing director and chief executive (Africa) Christian de Faria had said during the company's result announcement.

The average revenue per user (ARPU) in Africa saw 7 per cent decline to $5.5 as against $5.9 last year.