SingTel felt integrating such a large operation into Bharti would take away from its core focus of winning against the Reliance Jio Infocomm juggernaut.
NEW DELHI | MUMBAI: Bharti Enterprises has dropped a plan to pursue a mega-alliance with the Tata Group’s telecom, overseas cable and enterprise services, and direct-to-home TV businesses, several people familiar with the matter said.
Sunil Mittal-headed Bharti, burdened with debt of Rs 87,?840 crore at the end of June, will instead focus on strengthening its books through a strategic stake sale in tower arm Bharti Infratel and on closing acquisitions including the takeover of Telenor India as it tackles brutal competition in the market, the people said.
Singapore Telecommunications Ltd., which owns over a third of Bharti Airtel, was keen to cherry pick the enterprise business of Tata Teleservices and Tata Communications and not take on the complexities of such a major “multi-play” buyout involving stakeholders which included public shareholders and the government of India, the people said on condition of anonymity because the talks are in the private domain. Moreover, SingTel felt integrating such a large operation into Bharti would take away from its core focus of winning against the Reliance Jio Infocomm juggernaut.
It was not clear if the Bharti board had rejected a formal proposal. People directly involved said the matter was discussed among the “highest leadership forums of the group.”
Both sides discussed a possible merger between unlisted Tata Teleservices and Tata Sky and listed Tata Communications with Bharti Airtel, including its wholly owned DTH arm. The talks were said to have gathered momentum after N Chandrasekaran took charge as Chairman of Tata Sons, India’s largest conglomerate, in February.
“We keep evaluating opportunities from time to time. However, at this stage there is nothing to report,” a Bharti Airtel spokesperson said in an email. A Tata spokesperson declined to comment. A SingTel spokesperson said the company does not comment on market rumours.
Tata Group: Bharti Enterprises disconnects call on mega telecom alliance with Tata Group