Bharti Airtel, the India based operator, and Cell C, have refused to comment on market rumours of a potential tie-up between the two companies.<\/p>\n
It follows an article in the Sunday Times (2 November), which cited a source close to Bharti Airtel Africa as saying that Bharti was\u00a0eyeing further expansion into Africa following a failed bid in 2009 for a stake in MTN.<\/p>\n
Bharti Airtel<\/a>, with operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa (with 17 in Africa alone), is the third largest network globally with over 260 million subscribers<\/p>\n Amid rising speculation of a potential play into South Africa through a purchase agreement with Cell C, a Bharti spokesperson told BusinessTech: “As a company policy, we do not comment on market speculations.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAny change in ownership would be a shareholder matter and we do not comment on such matters. We also do not comment on market rumour or speculation,\u201d Cell C said.<\/p>\n The rumour adds to recent market speculation of a potential tie-up between Telkom\u2019s mobile arm 8ta, and Cell C.<\/p>\n Last month however,\u00a0Telkom<\/a>\u00a0CEO\u00a0Nombulelo Moholi<\/a>\u00a0dismissed the speculation saying that the Telkom board was not looking at any deal between the two operations.<\/p>\n Telkom CFO\u00a0Jacques Schindeh\u00fctte<\/a>\u00a0said that he was not overly optimistic that a merger between Telkom and Cell C would significantly benefit Telkom.<\/p>\n In September, Bharti entered into a strategic co-operation agreement with South African financial services group, Sanlam, for the distribution of insurance and health funding products.<\/p>\n The non-exclusive deal covers seven African countries, namely Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania, Zambia, Uganda, Malawi and Nigeria, in which both companies have a presence.<\/p>\n Related article<\/strong><\/p>\n Bharti ties up with SA bank<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n No Cell C deal on the table: Telkom CEO<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n