Amazon Is in Exploratory Talks to Buy $2 Billion Stake in Bharti Airtel, Says Report

According to a new report by Reuters, Amazon is in talks to buy around a 5% stake worth $2 billion in Bharti Airtel. The planned investment if completed would mean that amazon is acquiring roughly 5% Stake based on the current market value of Bharti Airtel and would give India’s third-largest telecom company a boost. But since the deal is still at an early stage, the deal terms could change and there is a possibility that an agreement may not be reached.

Amazon interest in Bharti Airtel comes as Google is in separate talks to buy stake in Vodafone Idea and In April, their rival Facebook bought a 9.99% stake in the nation’s top telecom operator, Reliance Jio Platforms

Reliance Jio-the largest telecom company in India has attracted 5 major investments worth INR 78,562 Crore from Facebook and KKR, amongst other companies, last month. Moreover, the telecom sector in the industry was in a hazardous position before the start of the COVID-19-induced lockdowns. But the increase in reliance on mobile data has proven to be the knight in shining armour for Telcos who have seen an increase in ARPU since data consumption is on a rise. The Reliance-Facebook deal was claimed by many industry experts to have a positive impact on the industry in terms of valuation and raising fresh funds.

Amazon considers India to be an important and has committed $6.5 BILLION in investments to expand its presence across verticals such as e-commerce, grocery delivery and OTT. A spokeswoman said that the company does “not offer comments on speculation of what we may or may not do in future.” In addition, Bharti said they routinely work with all digital players to bring their products, content, and services to customers. “Beyond that, there is no other activity to report”.