Amazon eyes Bharti Airtel stake
June 8, 2020
By Chris Forrester
Local reports suggest that Amazon is in early-stage discussions to take a stake in Indian telco giant Bharti Airtel.
Bharti is India’s third-largest telco with over 300 million subscribers. The reports say that Amazon is looking to pick up a 5 per cent stake in Bharti.
Bharti’s rival Reliance Jio has recently seen a slew of inward investment topping $10 billion from the likes of Facebook, KKR and others.
Amazon, as is usual, declined to offer any guidance other than to say that it does not comment on market speculation.
Nevertheless, Amazon has frequently said that India represents a major market in terms of expansion potential, and where its tangible investments already exceed $6.5 billion according to Reuters.