DTH
Airtel gets regulatory approval to offload 15% from DTH arm to Warburg Pincus
MUMBAI: In a regulatory filing Bharti Airtel said that its DTH arm Bharti Telemedia has received the government’s approval for the transfer of 15 per cent stake to private equity firm Warburg Pincus. The approval has been granted by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
Earlier the telecom player said it plans to sell 20 per cent stake in its DTH arm to an affiliate of Warburg Pincus for about $350 million. The deal was announced in December 2017.
“Bharti Telemedia Ltd, a subsidiary of the company, has been granted the approval dated 28 August 2018, from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for transfer of its 15 per cent stake to an affiliate of Warburg Pincus,” Bharti Airtel said.
However, of that total 20 per cent stake while 15 per cent stake is from its DTH arm, the balance 5 per cent stake will be sold by another Bharti entity. Though the approval of 15 per cent has been mentioned in the filing, as per a Press Trust of India report the entire deal has received the clearance.
Airtel Digital TV faces new challenges. Reliance Jio has announced it will offer a set top box for TV when it launches ultra-high speed fibre-based broadband services setting up competition in the DTH sector. If Jio comes up with aggressive pricing it will again put pressure on the average revenue per user of existing DTH players.
