Bharti Airtel to buy out Alcatel Lucent stake in JV

Bharti Airtel, India's largest mobile phone service provider, today announced plans to buy the entire shareholding in Alcatel Lucent Managed Network Service India, a joint venture with Alcatel Lucent SA of France.

This is part of Bharti Airtel's move to recast business model to manage fixed line and broadband networks, the company said.

Bharti and the Indian unit of Alcatel-Lucent had formed a 26:74 joint venture called Alcatel Lucent Managed Network Service India Ltd, in 2009, to manage Bharti's fixed-line and broadband networks.

The five-year network contract for the joint venture, which was worth about $500 million, ends in April 2014.

The companies did not give details of financial transactions.

The new business model, which would be on the lines of Indus Towers, will help in better managing fixed line and DSL broadband networks, Bharti said.