Zain deal makes Bharti world No. 5

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Bharti Airtel has completed its acquisition of African operations from Kuwait's Zain in a deal that makes the Indian firm the world's fifth biggest cellphone company by subscribers.

It was in February that the board of Kuwaiti mobile telecoms firm Zain accepted a $10.7 billion offer by India's top mobile operator, Bharti Airtel, to buy Zain's African assets excluding Sudan and Morocco.

Following are some facts about Zain's African assets:

* Africa represents about 58 per cent of Zain's 71.8 million customers

* Nigeria makes up 21 per cent of the group's customers, with an ARPU (average revenue per user) of $7.

* Zain has about $2 billion debt on its African books, shareholder Kharafi said on Monday.

* Following the deal, Zain will cut down its presence in the Middle East and Africa from 23 countries to eight.

* Zain currently operates in 15 African countries, other than Sudan and Morocco which are excluded from the deal.

* Bharti's offer is to buy Zain's operations in Burkina Faso, Chad, Congo Brazzaville, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.

* After the deal Zain will only be operating in Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Sudan.

(Do you think Bharti's move to spread wings overseas is an indication of the challenges that Indian telecom players are going to face in the domestic market? Please give your comments in the box below.)