Bharti raises stake in Qualcomm India BWA entities

Telecom major Bharti Airtel said it has acquired an additional 2 per cent stake in all the four Indian broadband wireless access entities of Qualcomm, thereby making them its subsidiaries.

"Bharti Airtel has subscribed to an additional 2 per cent equity share capital in all the four India BWA entities of Qualcomm AP. With this, all four entities are now subsidiaries of Bharti Airtel," the company said in a statement.

On May 24, 2012, Bharti Airtel and Qualcomm announced an agreement under which Bharti had acquired 49 per cent interest in Qualcomm AP's India entities with licences to offer 4G

data services in four circles of Delhi, Mumbai, Haryana and Kerala.

Shares of Bharti Airtel reacted positively to the announcement and surged 2.34 per cent to touch an early high of Rs 301.15 on the BSE on Thursday.

Airtel had won spectrum for high-speed broadband service in four telecom services areas of Kolkata, Maharashtra, Punjab and Karnataka in 2010, paying Rs 3,314.36 crore (Rs 33.14 billion) for it.

In addition, the stake purchase in Qualcomm's BWA venture would aid the Sunil Bharti Mittal-led group to offer services in eight circles.