MTN and Bharti now rivals in a bid for Zain.
What was to be a merger is now likely to turn into a battle to acquire Zain. Reliable sources have revealed that a dialogue between Airtel and Zain has now been initiated via intermediaries. With this Bharti will now take on MTN in a bid to acquire Zain.
Last month, MTN CEO Phutuma Nhleko had stated that it would consider buying the African assets of Zain Telecom if the deal with Bharti did not go through.
Bharti Airtel is trying its hardest best to get a foothold in Africa, which is where the growth story is playing out as well.
Zain is considered a valuable asset because it has over 69 million customers and operations in 24 countries across West Asia and Africa, and a market capitalisation in excess of $19 billion. In Africa alone, it has 41 million customers and is the number one mobile operator in 12 of the 16 countries it operates in. As a comparison, MTN has over 103 million customers and operates in 21 countries.
BSNL slashes ISD rates to Sri Lanka, West Asia
New Delhi
: The Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited’s (BSNL) 5.8-crore telecom service subscribers stand to benefit as the PSU announced a 40 per cent reduction in ISD rates to
Sri Lanka
and a 20 per cent cut to West Asian countries from next month.
From October 1, a BSNL subscriber would have to pay Rs. 7.20 a minute for a 10-second pulse rate from Rs. 12 a minute, a statement from the company said. The revised rates would apply to all calls from fixed line, mobile, WLL (M) as well as PCOs and trunk calls.
For West Asian countries such as
Kuwait
,
Bahrain
, the U.A.E.,
Oman
and
Qatar
, the rates have been reduced from Rs. 12 a minute to Rs. 9.6 a minute and the pulse rate has been increased from six seconds to 7.5 seconds.
Maximum call traffic
The sector comprising
Sri Lanka
and West Asian countries has the maximum call traffic from
India
. The tariffs have been reduced to offer customers a good choice and to be ahead of competition, the company said.
Current rates
Private cellular operators currently offer ISD rates of Rs. 9.99 a minute to
West Asia
with some operators offering Rs. 8 a minute to the same destination under certain plans. But, none them offer a unified package of same rate for calls from fixed lines, mobile and WLL phones.
Price war likely
BSNL’s latest rate-cut is likely to start another round of price war in the ISD segment on this busy traffic route of
West Asia
where a sizable Indian population stays.
BSNL has about 3.8 crore fixed line subscribers and a little over two crore mobile subscribers.
Source- http://www.hindu.com
