www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Chairman and CEO of Bharti’s Group, Sunil Mittal said that Bharti Airtel’s proposed USD 23 billion transaction with South African telecom major MTN is a “well thought out” deal.

The planned deal is anticipated to create an entity with more than 200 million subscribers.

“We need to expand our horizons and go out of India. That is what we have been trying over the last couple of years… The focus has to be on Africa, the Middle East and some other developing markets,” Mittal said.

Both Bharti Airtel and MTN are in exclusive discussions till July 31 for a potential deal.

If the proposal takes a concrete shape, this would result in Bharti Airtel getting a 49 per cent stake in MTN while the South African telecom entity will get a 36 per cent “economic interest” in Bharti Airtel.