Bharti Softbank, Yahoo Japan to form mobile portal JV

Bharti Softbank (BSB) and Yahoo! Japan Corp, Japan's leading internet portal, on Tuesday announced that they will float an equal joint venture, BSY Pte Ltd, to develop a mobile internet portal for the Indian market.

Bharti Softbank is an equal joint venture between telecom tycoon Sunil Bharti Mittals' Bharti Enterprises and Softbank Corp. The company is spearheaded by Kavin Bharti Mittal, one of the twin sons of  Mittal.

BSB was launched last October to focus on mobile internet in India, and BSY Pte Ltd is a step forward in this partnership that aims to combine Bharti's deep understanding of the Indian market with the Softbank group's rich experience in the internet portal space, the company said in a statement from its Kolkata headquarters.

Kavin Mittal, head (strategy & new product development) at BSB, said, "We are delighted to partner Yahoo! Japan, who have a proven track record in this area. BSY, which is BSB's second venture, will be an important piece in our strategy to drive the uptake of mobile internet and data services."

Madhu Nori, BSB's India operations head, claimed that as the local mobile market gravitates towards data-led services, rich content is an area that will offer good exciting growth prospects.

"Yahoo! Japan's understanding of technology and analytics in this domain will be a big plus for this partnership, through which we aim to offer exciting content and services to customers in India. We are looking forward to working with all mobile operators and promote an open internet culture on mobile," said Nori.