Essar Telecom is in discussions with Bharti Airtel and Kenya’s Safaricom to sell its Kenyan operations for about $100 million. Essar Telecom Kenya, offering telecom services under yuMobile, is that country’s fourth mobile cellular network operator.
Airtel confirmed the development, while Safaricom could not be immediately reached for comments.
Bharti Airtel, India’s largest telecom operator by subscribers, is in talks to acquire its subscribers in Kenya, while Safaricom intends to buy yuMobile’s infrastructure, according to sources close to the development.
According to a yuMobile spokesperson, the company filed an application with the Communications Authority of Kenya (CAK) to transfer its part of telecom business.
In the application filed on Tuesday, yuMobile said it is involved “substantive talks” with two potential suitors, subject to requisite approvals.
“We believe this proposed transaction will benefit all stakeholders and the telecom industry in Kenya,” the yuMobile spokesperson said, but did not name the companies it was in talks with.
Essar is a $39-billion multinational corporation with investments across steel, energy, infrastructure and services and has operations in more than 25 countries. The group had sold its 33 per cent stake in Vodafone-Essar for $5 billion, exiting telecom operations in 2011.
We would like to reassure our partners, vendors and other stake holders that the transition would be seamless on obtaining necessary approvals,” he added.
Launched in December 2008, yuMobile has about 2.7 million subscribers.
“Airtel Networks Kenya Ltd (Airtel Kenya) has sought an approval from the CAK to acquire the telecommunications licenses and subscribers of Essar Telecom Kenya,” Airtel said in a statement.
Airtel, in February has acquired Mumbai-based Loop Mobile in a slump sale for about Rs 700 crore.
According to sources in the industry, yuMobile is looking at offloading its network infrastructure to Safaricom, a leading operator in Kenya. This, however, could not be independently confirmed.