MTN-Bharti plans could be hit by Iran mobile clampdown

October 1st, 2009 MUMBAI - The shares of Bharti Airtel opened strong Thursday despite the firm having to terminate the proposed $24-billion equity-swap-cum strategic tie-up with South Africa's telecom major MTN to create the world's third largest mobile phone firm. The company's shares opened at Rs.435 Thursday, against the previous day's close at Rs.418.55, and soon shot up to a high of Rs.467, data with the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) showed.

October 1st, 2009 MUMBAI - Bharti Airtel shares, which opened on a firm note Thursday, continued to trade in positive terrain after the firm had to terminate the proposed $24-billion equity-swap-cum strategic tie-up with South Africa's telecom major MTN. The deal, if it had materialised, would have created the world's third largest mobile phone firm.

September 30th, 2009 NEW DELHI - India's telecom major Bharti Airtel and South Africa's MTN Wednesday terminated their talks for a proposed $24-billion equity swap-cum-strategic alliance that could have potentially created the world's third largest mobile phone enterprise. According to Bharti, the proposed deal was called off after the South African authorities declined to accept certain regulatory constraints on the part of both sides.

September 27th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Mobile operator Bharti Airtel Sunday announced two schemes enabling cheaper calls from the US to India as part of a festive season offer. Under the first scheme, users will get 1,353 minutes of calls for $24.99.

August 20th, 2009 MUMBAI - Bharti Airtel and South Africa's MTN Thursday said they were extending their talks for a proposed $23-billion financial alliance till Sep 30, with no final pact in sight even as the revised deadline of Aug 31 approaches. "Discussions between the parties regarding the potential transaction continue to progress satisfactorily and the parties have accordingly agreed to extend the exclusivity period until September 30, 2009," Bharti Airtel said in a regulatory statement to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

July 28th, 2009 COLOMBO - Bharti Airtel Lanka, a subsidiary of India's telecom major Bharti Airtel, Tuesday said it has crossed the one million customer-mark in Sri Lanka. The company has achieved this milestone within six months of the launch of its services in the island country.

July 23rd, 2009 MUMBAI - Beating forecasts by analysts, telecom major Bharti Airtel posted a 22.2 percent increase in net profit for the first quarter of 2009-10 at Rs.2,647.95 crore (Rs.26.48 billion / $547 million). The company's total income during the period under review rose 22 percent to Rs.10,448.69 crore from Rs.8,567.8 crore in the same period a year ago, it said in a regulatory statement.

June 23rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Taiwanese handset major HTC Corp, in collaboration with Bharti Airtel, Tuesday launched HTC Magic, India's first smartphone that will run on Google's Android operating system. The device is priced at Rs.29,900 and will be available in Airtel relationship centres and authorised HTC resellers in 17 cities.

May 27th, 2009 JOHANNESBURG - Analysts here, who were initially enthusiastic over the transaction between mobile phone giants Bharti Airtel of India and South Africa's MTN, have turned cautious after share prices of both companies dropped Wednesday. MTN fell 4.46 percent and Bharti went down for the second consecutive day May 26, following an announcement Monday by the two that they were in discussions for a cross-ownership deal that could see the biggest mobile giant straddling Africa, India and the Middle East.

May 15th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Leading telecom operator Bharti Airtel Friday said its mobile phone subscriber base had crossed the 100-million mark, making the company the third largest single country service provider in the world. 'Bharti Airtel has achieved 100-million subscriber mark,' said a beaming Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman of the Rs.375 billion company.

April 29th, 2009 Bharti Airtel says quarterly profit up 21 pctMUMBAI, India — Bharti Airtel Ltd., India's largest mobile telephone company, said Wednesday that record subscriber growth fueled a 21 percent rise in quarterly profit. Net profit for the January-March quarter rose 21 percent from the same period last year to 22.39 billion rupees ($459 million).

April 29th, 2009 India's Bharti Airtel says quarterly profit roseMUMBAI, India — Bharti Airtel Ltd., India's largest mobile telephone company, said Wednesday that record subscriber growth fueled a 21 percent rise in quarterly profit, despite increasing competition in India's booming mobile phone market. Net profit for the January-March quarter rose to 22.39 billion rupees ($459 million), while sales grew 26 percent to 98.25 billion rupees ($2.01 billion).

January 21st, 2009 NEW DELHI - Telecom major Bharti Airtel has earmarked around $3.5 billion as capital expenditure (capex) for mobile services and infrastructure business for the next financial year, a top official said here Thursday. 'About $2.5 billion have been earmarked as capex for mobile services and approximately $1 billion for the passive infrastructure,' Bharti Group deputy chief executive Akhil Gupta said.

January 21st, 2009 NEW DELHI - Telecom major Bharti Airtel Thursday reported a 30 percent increase in its cash profits to Rs.37.55 billion ($767 million) in the third quarter ended Dec 31 as against Rs.28.82 billion a year ago. The consolidated total revenue for the quarter under review grew 38 percent to Rs.96.33 billion.

January 18th, 2009 NEW DELHI - British telecom giant Vodafone Monday said it will continue to invest heavily in India. 'We see an addition of eight to nine million mobile subscribers here.