BHARTIARTL

Corrects headline and paragraph 1 in May 21 story to say Singtel would spend S$3 billion, not S$4.2 billion; Also corrects paragraph 6 to clarify AI spending is part of total spending

May 21 (Reuters) - Singapore Telecommunications STEL.SI said on Thursday it was looking to sell a minority stake in its Australian unit Optus, and shared capital spending plans of S$3 billion ($2.35 billion) in 2027.

Singtel said it was looking for a "like-minded long-term local partner owning a meaningful minority stake" in the Australian operator, which has been owned by Singtel for over 25 years and is Australia's second-largest telecom firm.

Optus has been under intense scrutiny over two back-to-back outages of an emergency number that affected thousands of users and were linked to four deaths. The incidents led to the departure of two senior executives, including its finance chief.

Singtel said the sale process may entail engaging with local partners who bring the "expertise to improve service provision and quality."

It sold a stake in India's Bharti Airtel BRTI.NS for S$1.16 billion last year as a part of an ongoing asset restructuring strategy.

In a separate statement on its annual results, Singtel said its planned 2027 spending included S$1.2 billion allocated for data centres and AI-related purposes.

Singtel said it was taking a more cautious approach to its near-term outlook and expected earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) growth to be in the low- to mid-single digits.

While it has no direct operations in the Middle East, it said most of its key markets were net energy importers and exposed to global energy price swings, which could mean higher operating costs, softer consumer and business spending, and slower economic growth.

The group said its existing long-term power contracts should help cushion the impact, but cautioned that currency volatility across its regional markets could weigh on translated earnings.

Southeast Asia's largest telecom operator posted an underlying net profit of S$2.77 billion for the year ended March 2026, up from S$2.47 billion in the previous year, but below a Visible Alpha consensus estimate of S$2.82 billion.

It logged a nearly 9% rise in EBIT to S$1.50 billion in 2026. Singtel declared a final dividend of 10.3 Singapore cents per share, versus 10 Singapore cents apiece announced last year.

Shares of the company were down nearly 7%, set for its weakest session since March 2020, and it was the worst performer on the benchmark index .STI, which was down 0.3% as of 0658 GMT.

($1 = 1.2783 Singapore dollars)

(Reporting by Rajasik Mukherjee, Keshav Singh Chundawat and Sherin Sunny in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber, Subhranshu Sahu and Christian Schmollinger)

((Keshav.SinghChundawat@thomsonreuters.com;))

By Amy-Jo Crowley

LONDON, May 21 (Reuters) - Indian conglomerate Bharti Enterprises is seeking to potentially increase its stake in BT to just under the threshold that would require it to make a full takeover offer for the British telecoms group, three people familiar with the matter said.

Led by billionaire founder, Sunil Bharti Mittal, the group is looking to secure UK government approval required for it to be able to increase its stake in the London-listed company, the people said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the matter is private.

It could increase its stake to as much as 29.9% to gain greater economic exposure to BT but does not plan to pursue a full takeover, one of the people said.

A Bharti spokesman said the company is pleased with its current 24.95% shareholding and "currently has no plans to increase its stake." The UK government's Cabinet Office declined to comment. BT referred questions to the UK government and Bharti.

Any move by Bharti to increase its stake beyond 25% would have to be reviewed by the government under the National Security and Investment Act, which gives the government greater say over deals where national interests might be involved.

The group first bought a stake in BT in 2024 by acquiring a 24.5% shareholding from Altice's Patrick Drahi, making it a key strategic shareholder in the company. Bharti said at that time it was supportive of BT's executive team and its "ambitious" transformation programme to deliver long-term sustainable growth.

BT shares have risen 55% since its acquisition of the stake, according to LSEG data. The stake is held by Bharti Televentures, according to LSEG data.

BHARTI HAS NO PLANS TO BID FOR ALL OF BT

Bharti, which owns the Bharti Airtel brand operating in 17 countries across South Asia and Africa, said at the time of that acquisition that it did not intend to bid for all of BT, the former state monopoly which is Britain's biggest broadband and mobile company.

In September Mittal, founder and chairman of Bharti Enterprises, and Gopal Vittal, Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Bharti Airtel, joined the BT board as non-independent non-executive directors.

The UK approved the purchase in London-listed BT at the end of 2024 after a detailed national security assessment and assurances from the telecoms company. BT established a national security committee to oversee "strategic work that it performs which has an impact on or is in respect of the national security" of the country, the UK government said at the time.

​

(Reporting by Amy-Jo Crowley in London. Additional reporting by Paul Sandle. Editing by Anousha Sakoui and Chizu Nomiyama )

((Amy-Jo.Crowley@thomsonreuters.com))

May 21 (Reuters) - Singapore Telecommunications STEL.SI reported a 12.1% rise in annual underlying profit on Thursday, driven by strong contributions from India's Bharti Airtel BRTI.NS and other regional associates.

Southeast Asia's largest telecom operator said underlying net profit was S$2.77 billion ($2.17 billion) for the year ended March 2026, compared with S$2.47 billion in the previous year.

That missed the Visible Alpha consensus estimate of S$2.82 billion.

($1 = 1.2774 Singapore dollars)

(Reporting by Rajasik Mukherjee and Keshav Singh Chundawat in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)

((Keshav.SinghChundawat@thomsonreuters.com;))

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own. Updates to add graphic.

By Katrina Hamlin

HONG KONG, May 18 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Prudential PRU.L, 2378.HK has a punchy plan to shake up its life insurance business in India: it's buying a controlling stake in Bharti Life Insurance. Tapping its new partner's telco and asset management customers is a risky alternative to the tried-and-tested model of distributing products via a bank but could be an ingenious way to kickstart growth.

The $38 billion group agreed to acquire 75% of Bharti Life from ​Bharti Life Ventures and 360 ONE Asset Management ONEW.NS for $389 million, it said on Sunday.

That means Prudential CEO Anil Wadhwani is doing a switcheroo: the transaction requires Pru to reduce its stake in an existing venture with ICICI Bank ICBK.NS to under 10%, from 22%, per the company. It could well go on to divest what remains, leaving Bharti as its key partner.

The Indian business is in need of a reboot. New business sales there fell 2% last year, and its ranking among private life insurers fell to fifth from third a year earlier. That was a disappointing result for what ought to be a high-growth market. The world’s most populous country has only 3% penetration in the life insurance space, Prudential reckons.

Wadhwani’s solution is a creative one. Insurers often lean on large banks like ICICI to reach potential policy buyers. But the target’s main attraction is Bharti Airtel’s BRTI.NS nearly 300 million smartphone customers in India, compared with ICICI’s roughly 80 million retail banking clients, per data from Bharti and BCG Matrix. Overlapping markets in Africa could also open up other emerging markets, while the telecom company's asset management arm could help Pru reach India’s high net worth individuals.

But making it work could be tough. JioBlackRock, a joint venture between BlackRock BLK.N and Jio Financial Services JIOF.NS, is tapping additional distributors to sell its products after trying a digital direct model that leaned on its connections to Reliance Jio, India’s largest telecoms group.

And while the deal price seems fair, it’s not a bargain, valuing the company at just over $500 million, or around 1.5 times its embedded value as of September. That’s in line with the average for rivals SBI Life Insurance SBIL.NS, HDFC Life Insurance HDFL.NS and the Life Insurance Corporation of India LIFI.NS, per Visible Alpha, and just below 1.6 times for ICICI Prudential Life Insurance ICIR.NS. Shareholders sent Pru’s stock down 2% in morning trade in Hong Kong. That's probably because Wadhwani's punt for better rewards in India comes with higher risks.

Follow Katrina Hamlin on Bluesky and Linkedin.

CONTEXT NEWS

Insurer Prudential said on May 17 that it has agreed to acquire a 75% stake in Bharti Life Insurance from ​Bharti Life Ventures and 360 ONE Asset Management for an initial cash consideration of $389 million, with a potential additional consideration of up to $78 million, subject to certain conditions.

Prudential’s Hong Kong-listed shares fell 2.26% to HK$116.8 in morning trade on May 18.

(Editing by Antony Currie; Production by Ujjaini Dutta)

((For previous columns by the author, Reuters customers can click on HAMLIN/katrina.hamlin@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging: katrina.hamlin.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))

May 17 (Reuters) - Prudential PLC PRU.L:

• PRUDENTIAL PLC: REPOSITIONS ITS INDIA OPERATIONS THROUGH A CONTROLLING STAKE IN BHARTI LIFE INSURANCE

• PRUDENTIAL: AS PART OF A STRATEGIC REPOSITIONING OF INDIA OPERATIONS HAS AGREED TO ACQUIRE A 75% STAKE IN BHARTI LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY LIMITED

• PRUDENTIAL: TRANSACTION IS FOR AN INITIAL CASH CONSIDERATION OF ₹3,500 CRORE PAYABLE ON COMPLETION

• PRUDENTIAL: THERE IS POTENTIAL ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATION PAYABLE OF UP TO ₹700 CRORE, DEPENDENT ON THE FULFILMENT OF CERTAIN CONDITIONS.

• PRUDENTIAL: AS PART OF THE TRANSACTION, BHARTI LIFE WILL ALSO LOOK INTO SECURING STRATEGIC DISTRIBUTION AGREEMENTS WITH BHARTI AIRTEL AND 360 ONE

• PRUDENTIAL: AS PART OF THE TRANSACTION, BHARTI LIFE WILL ALSO LOOK INTO SECURING STRATEGIC DISTRIBUTION AGREEMENTS WITH BHARTI AIRTEL AND 360 ONE

• PRUDENTIAL: REGULATORY APPROVALS FOR THE TRANSACTION ARE EXPECTED TO REQUIRE PRUDENTIAL TO REDUCE ITS SHAREHOLDING IN ICICIPRU LIFE TO UNDER 10%

Source text: https://tinyurl.com/5n8r34wr

Further company coverage: PRU.L

((Reuters.briefs@thomsonreuters.com;))

May 14 (Reuters) -

• INDIA'S BHARTI AIRTEL EXEC: CONTINUE TO REMAIN CONFIDENT ABOUT LONG-TERM GROWTH OPPORTUNITY IN AFRICA

• BHARTI AIRTEL EXEC: FEW AREAS OF OPERATIONS WERE IMPACTED BY ONGOING GEOPOLITICAL CRISIS

• BHARTI AIRTEL EXEC: DETERMINED TO ACCELERATE GROWTH IN POSTPAID

• BHARTI AIRTEL EXEC: SEE COST PRESSURES IN SERVERS AND MEMORY PRICES

Further company coverage: BRTI.NS

((reuters.briefs@thomsonreuters.com;))

May 13 (Reuters) - Bharti Airtel Ltd BRTI.NS:

• BHARTI AIRTEL - RE-APPOINTMENT OF MR. SUNIL BHARTI MITTAL AS CHAIRMAN

• BHARTI AIRTEL - RE-APPOINTMENT OF AS CHAIRMAN OF COMPANY FOR FURTHER TERM OF FIVE CONSECUTIVE YEARS

Source text: ID:nBSEMr8Sq

Further company coverage: BRTI.NS

((Reuters.Briefs@thomsonreuters.com;))

Updates with fund-raising plan in paragraphs 17-18

MUMBAI, May 11 (Reuters) - Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio Platforms is gearing up to seek regulatory approvals for a Mumbai listing, in what is likely to be the biggest-ever stock offering in the country.

Here are facts and numbers on Jio Platforms, which houses the world's second-largest telecom company by users after China Mobile 600941.SS.

TELECOM BUSINESS

Reliance Jio Platforms is a unit of Ambani's oil-to-retail conglomerate Reliance Industries RELI.NS. It is most known for the telecom business - Reliance Jio Infocomm, which is the country's biggest player with more than 500 million subscribers.

Launched in 2016, the telecom business, popularly just called Jio, hit rivals such as Bharti Airtel BRTI.NS and Vodafone-Idea VODA.NS hard by offering free voice and data plans initially.

The move, in line with Ambani's typical strategy of offering ultra-low prices to lure consumers, drove up its customer base and allowed many Indians to access platforms such as YouTube and Facebook for the first time.

Jio says it currently has a roughly 60% share of India's data traffic.

In recent years, Reliance Jio Platforms has diversified beyond telecom into AI, cloud and enterprise network services, as well as app development. In 2023, Nvidia NVDA.O announced AI partnership with Reliance to develop cloud infrastructure and language models.

THE LEADERSHIP

Mukesh Ambani, Asia's richest man, is the chairman of Jio Platforms. His three children - Akash, Anant and Isha - serve on its board. Akash Ambani, his elder son, is the chairman of the company's flagship telecom unit, Reliance Jio Infocomm.

Reliance Industries holds 66.43% stake in Jio Platforms.

Kiran Thomas is the CEO of Jio Platforms.

KEY FINANCIALS, VALUATION

Reliance Jio Platforms' operating revenue in the last financial year ending March 2025 stood at $13.65 billion. But 90% of that came just from the telecom business, which the company says has grown annually by 13% since 2020-21.

Reliance Jio Platforms posted a profit after tax of $2.8 billion in the year.

In November, investment bank Jefferies estimated that Reliance Jio's valuation stood at $180 billion. Sources told Reuters in January the IPO could be worth as much as $4 billion, though final numbers will only be decided later.

MARQUEE INVESTORS

In 2020, Jio Platforms raised more than $20.5 billion from 13 global investors in exchange for a roughly 33% equity stake, at a valuation range of $57 billion to $65 billion.

Global names such as Meta Platforms META.O, Alphabet GOOGL.O and KKR invested in the firm, as Ambani sought to turn Jio Platforms into the centerpiece of his technology ambitions.

Other investors include General Atlantic, Silver Lake and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. Meta owns a 9.9% stake in the company, followed by Google's 7.7% stake.

THE IPO JOURNEY

The filing, which had been targeted for as early as March, has been pushed back as IPO activity slowed following the outbreak of the conflict in West Asia, with investors losing their appetite for new listings.

The IPO, previously expected to be a pure offer-for-sale where foreign investors would have sold some of their holdings, is now being planned as a fundraising, aiming to issue shares worth 2.5% of the company's size.

The company's IPO has been long delayed. In 2019, Ambani said Jio would "move towards" a listing within five years, but later the plans were delayed in 2025.

The company has hired 17 banks to manage its offering.

(Reporting by Vibhuti Sharma and Aditya Kalra; Editing by Arun Koyyur and Sonali Paul)

((Vibhuti.Sharma@thomsonreuters.com;))

By Jayshree P Upadhyay and Jaspreet Kalra

MUMBAI, May 5 (Reuters) - Gautam Adani's eponymous firm, telecom operator Bharti Airtel BRTI.NS, U.S.-based Genpact and autoparts giant ZF Friedrichshafen are among the companies setting up treasury operations in India's tax-neutral finance zone, according to three sources.

They are set to join ArcelorMittal MT.LU, the world's second-largest steelmaker, which has secured regulatory licenses to set up two treasury centres, according to public filings.

The Gujarat International Finance Tec-City, known as GIFT City, is being promoted by the Modi government as a financial centre to rival Singapore and Dubai. In February, the government extended the tax holiday for firms operating there to 20 years and regulations have also been eased.

Seventeen corporate treasuries are likely to begin operations in GIFT City over the next three months, two of the three sources said, declining to be named as they are not authorised to speak to the media.

Corporate treasury operations have traditionally been housed in places like Singapore and the Netherlands. Global treasury centres are hubs where multinational firms manage cash, funding, liquidity, foreign exchange and financial risks.

Access to cheaper funding, lower taxes on remitting dividends and excess cash to overseas units, along with being able to hold assets in dollars as the rupee weakens, are prompting firms to set up treasury centres in GIFT City, the three sources said. By onshoring this activity to GIFT City, India hopes to retain control and oversight of global financial flows associated with its companies.

"Treasury centres at GIFT City are allowing firms to pool cash and borrow at a group level with greater flexibility and improving access to funds generated by their Indian businesses," said Suresh Swamy, a senior partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Responding to a Reuters query, a spokesperson for Germany-based ZF Friedrichshafen said in an email it is exploring a GIFT City set-up and has yet to apply for a license.

Email queries to the other companies mentioned in this article did not yield any responses.

The names of firms planning to set up operations in GIFT City have not been previously reported.

Dipesh Shah, an executive director at the International Financial Services Centre Authority, a GIFT City regulator, said "the rise of treasury centres at GIFT marks a structural shift in how India-linked corporates manage global capital." He declined to comment on individual companies setting up treasury operations at the tax hub.

REGULATORY PUSH

Activity has picked up sharply since January, with seven companies securing regulatory licences and another 17 at different stages of approval, sources said.

Much of the recent surge is attributable to regulatory changes from April 2025, according to two of the sources.

"The interest from foreign multinational companies has been beyond our expectations," said a senior regulatory official at GIFT City who requested anonymity as they are not authorised to talk to the media.

A key change that was made allows banks to pay interest on current account balances - a practice not allowed by the Reserve Bank of India for onshore lenders, the sources said. Just one foreign bank has started this so far, two of the three sources said.

ArcelorMittal - an early entrant - plans to undertake cash pooling activities for its India entities via GIFT City, according to the sources, similar to what it does via its treasury centre in Paris through an entity called ArcelorMittal Treasury.

(Reporting by Jayshree P Upadhyay and Jaspreet Kalra in Mumbai; Editing by Ira Dugal in Mumbai and Thomas Derpinghaus)

((Jayshree.Pyasi@thomsonreuters.com; 9920092491; Reuters Messaging: Twitter: @jaysh88))

March 30 (Reuters) - Bharti Airtel Ltd BRTI.NS:

• BHARTI AIRTEL - ANNOUNCES $1 BILLION INVESTMENT IN NXTRA LED BY ALPHA WAVE GLOBAL AND CARLYLE

• BHARTI AIRTEL - NXTRA TO BE VALUED AT $3.1 BILLION POST-CLOSING OF DEAL

• BHARTI AIRTEL - ALPHA WAVE GLOBAL TO INVEST $435 MILLION, CARLYLE $240 MILLION, ANCHORAGE CAPITAL $35 MILLION

• BHARTI AIRTEL - TO RETAIN CONTROLLING STAKE IN NXTRA

Source text: ID:nBSE7l9pt5

Further company coverage: BRTI.NS

((Reuters.Briefs@thomsonreuters.com;))

MUMBAI, March 23 (Reuters) - Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio Platforms is gearing up to file papers seeking regulatory approvals for a Mumbai listing, in what is likely to be the biggest-ever stock offering in the country.

Here are facts and numbers on Jio Platforms, which houses the world's second-largest telecom company by users after China Mobile 600941.SS.

TELECOM BUSINESS

Reliance Jio Platforms is a unit of Ambani's oil-to-retail conglomerate Reliance Industries RELI.NS. It is most known for the telecom business - Reliance Jio Infocomm, which is the country's biggest player with more than 500 million subscribers.

Launched in 2016, the telecom business, popularly just called Jio, hit rivals such as Bharti Airtel BRTI.NS and Vodafone-Idea VODA.NS hard by offering free voice and data plans initially.

The move, in line with Ambani's typical strategy of offering cut-throat prices to lure consumers, drove up its customer base and allowed many Indians to access platforms such as YouTube and Facebook for the first time.

Jio says it currently has a roughly 60% share of India's data traffic.

In recent years, Reliance Jio Platforms has diversified beyond telecom into AI, cloud and enterprise network services, as well as app development. In 2023, Nvidia NVDA.O announced AI partnership with Reliance to develop cloud infrastructure and language models.

THE LEADERSHIP

Mukesh Ambani, Asia's richest man, is the chairman of Jio Platforms. His three children - Akash, Anant and Isha - serve on its board. Akash Ambani, his elder son, is the chairman of the company's flagship telecom unit, Reliance Jio Infocomm.

Reliance Industries holds 66.43% stake in Jio Platforms.

Kiran Thomas is the CEO of Jio Platforms.

KEY FINANCIALS, VALUATION

Reliance Jio Platforms' operating revenue in the last financial year ending March 2025 stood at $13.65 billion. But 90% of that came just from the telecom business, which the company says has grown annually by 13% since 2020-21.

Reliance Jio Platforms posted a profit after tax of $2.8 billion in the year.

In November, investment bank Jefferies estimated that Reliance Jio's valuation stood at $180 billion. Sources told Reuters in January the IPO could be worth as much as $4 billion, though final numbers will only be decided later.

MARQUEE INVESTORS

In 2020, Jio Platforms raised more than $20.5 billion from 13 global investors in exchange for a roughly 33% equity stake, at a valuation range of $57 billion to $65 billion.

Global names such as Meta Platforms META.O, Alphabet GOOGL.O and KKR invested in the firm, as Ambani sought to turn Jio Platforms into the centerpiece of his technology ambitions.

Other investors include General Atlantic, Silver Lake and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. Meta owns a 9.9% stake in the company, followed by Google's 7.7% stake.

THE IPO JOURNEY

The company's IPO has been long delayed. In 2019, Ambani said Jio would "move towards" a listing within five years, but later the plans were delayed in 2025.

The company has hired 17 banks to manage its offering, which will see the company raise no new funds from the public and only allow exits for some shareholders.

(Reporting by Vibhuti Sharma and Aditya Kalra; Editing by Arun Koyyur)

((Vibhuti.Sharma@thomsonreuters.com;))

March 20 (Reuters) - Saraswati Commercial (India) Ltd SARC.BO:

• SARASWATI COMMERCIAL (INDIA) LTD - BHARTI AIRTEL CONVERTS PARTLY PAID-UP EQUITY SHARES INTO FULLY PAID-UP EQUITY SHARES

• SARASWATI COMMERCIAL (INDIA) LTD - CONVERTS 587,712 BHARTI AIRTEL SHARES INTO FULLY PAID-UP SHARES

Source text: ID:nBSElFTkY

Further company coverage: SARC.BO

((Reuters.Briefs@thomsonreuters.com;;))

** Bharti Airtel BRTI.NS invests $2.2 billion in its financial arm over the next few years to step up its push into digital lending

** CITI ("Buy," PT: 2,380 rupees) says the capital infusion is a natural adjacency to develop BRTI's next growth engine and diversify its portfolio

** Brokerage adds that it does not expect the foray to materially weigh on BRTI's cash flows, considering its upcoming rights issue payment and free cash flow generation

** Morgan Stanley ("Overweight," PT: 2,450 rupees) says BRTI has seen "reasonable success" in operating its loan service platform over the last 2 years, and the new capital infusion is a step to diversify further into financial services

** Adds, while current investments will increase overall capex intensity, it will also build additional revenue streams with potential value creation

** BRTI down 3.2% on the day

** Avg rating of 29 analysts on BRTI at "Buy"; median PT is 2,375 rupees - data compiled by LSEG

** YTD, stock down 8.2% vs Nifty 50's .NSEI 2.4% drop

(Reporting by Kashish Tandon in Bengaluru)

((Kashish.tandon@thomsonreuters.com))

Recasts with details

Feb 23 (Reuters) - Bharti Airtel BRTI.NS will invest 200 billion rupees ($2.2 billion) in its financial arm over the next few years, India's second-largest mobile carrier by number of users said on Monday, as it steps up its push into digital lending.

The capital will be infused into its subsidiary, Airtel Money, which received a non-banking financial company (NBFC) license from the Reserve Bank of India on February 13.

Airtel's expansion comes as competition intensifies in India’s non-bank lending sector, where conglomerates such as Jio Financial Services JIOF.NS and established players like Bajaj Finance BJFN.NS are scaling up retail credit operations.

The move strengthens Airtel's financial services business as it diversifies beyond telecom into areas such as data centres, cloud and enterprise services.

The telecom major will contribute 70% of the 200 billion rupees capital, with key shareholder Bharti Enterprises providing the remaining, Airtel said in a press release.

The move "will leverage the large Airtel customer base to build the next growth engine for the company and further diversify its portfolio," it added.

($1 = 90.8850 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Aleef Jahan in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala and Eileen Soreng)

((aleefjahan.cs@thomsonreuters.com))

Feb 20 (Reuters) - Bharti Airtel Ltd BRTI.NS:

• ZSCALER AND BHARTI AIRTEL LAUNCH AI & CYBER THREAT RESEARCH CENTER

Source text: ID:nNSESprNr

Further company coverage: BRTI.NS

((Reuters.Briefs@thomsonreuters.com;))

Feb 17 (Reuters) - Bharti Airtel Ltd BRTI.NS:

• UNIT RECEIVES CERTIFICATE AS TYPE II NON-DEPOSIT NBFC FROM RBI

Source text: ID:nBSE5gGdbD

Further company coverage: BRTI.NS

((Reuters.Briefs@thomsonreuters.com;;))

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.

By Shritama Bose

MUMBAI, Feb 16 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Mukesh Ambani's endless quest for scale in India may be the top challenge his advisors led by Kotak Mahindra Bank and Morgan Stanley face in trying to secure the tycoon's telecom operator a sought-after $170 billion valuation in its upcoming blockbuster initial public offering.

Demand for Jio Platforms stock will almost certainly be strong, not least because the company will end up as a constituent of the country's benchmark Nifty 50 Index .NSEI. Whether it deserves to be valued more richly than its top rival is less clear, however.

Size wise, Jio clearly trumps its top rival. Its 515 million total subscribers are more numerous than Bharti Airtel's BRTI.NS 466 million customers in India and its 25 million base of users for home broadband, which it's still rolling out, is nearly twice as large. Beyond that, things look less clear cut.

Ambani's firm is growing earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation at 17% year-on-year, impressive but slower than the 27% EBITDA increase at Airtel's India business. Profits at the duo are robust only because the tycoon's price wars tipped the sector into a quasi-duopoly over the past decade.

Jio's average revenue per user of 214 rupees ($2.36) a month also lags Airtel's 259 rupees. That's partly explained by the fact that Airtel calculates the metric only for subscribers who have made a payment in the last 30 days, while Jio includes its entire subscriber base. It underscores the company's focus on volumes.

That makes the two halves of the duopoly look more evenly matched. Yet a $170 billion valuation would equate to 42 times Jio's earnings for the year ending March 2027 according to estimates compiled by Visible Alpha. Airtel trades at around 30 times.

What's more, Ambani's next target is to dominate artificial intelligence services and reduce inferencing costs in India to the lowest in the world to make "AI available everywhere for everyone". That raises the prospects of more price wars.

To be sure, Reliance Industries RELI.NS executives are talking up a proprietary in-house technology stack. This, they say, cuts the company's reliance on foreign equipment, is drawing interest from global operators and will give Jio an edge in scaling up growth drivers; users pay more for broadband than mobile, and its enterprise solutions from cloud services to internet of things are at an early stage of adoption.

If Jio can realise these advantages, it may be able to pursue scale and deliver superior shareholder value. For now, though, with the company generating 89% of its operating revenue from plain old telecom services, bankers will be asking prospective investors to take a leap of faith.

Follow Shritama Bose on LinkedIn and X.

CONTEXT NEWS

Jio Platforms, the telecom unit of Reliance Industries, is preparing for a Mumbai initial public offering.

(Editing by Una Galani; Production by Aditya Srivastav)

((For previous columns by the author, Reuters customers can click on BOSE/shritama.bose@thomsonreuters.com))

Updates with more detail on results

Feb 12 (Reuters) - Singapore Telecommunications STEL.SI reported a 9.5% rise in its third-quarter underlying net profit on Thursday, driven by strong contributions from India's Bharti Airtel BRTI.NS and Thailand's Advanced Info Service (AIS) ADVANC.BK.

SingTel reported an underlying net profit of S$744 million ($589.77 million) for the three-month period ended December 31, compared with S$680 million a year earlier.

Contributions from regional associates' post-tax profits rose more than 15% to S$529 million, led by Airtel and AIS.

SingTel also booked a net exceptional gain of S$1.15 billion from selling a 0.8% stake in Airtel as part of an asset‑restructuring plan.

That boosted its net profit on a statutory basis by 44% to S$1.89 billion.

SingTel-owned Optus, Australia's no. 2 telecom firm, reported a 5% rise in operating earnings for the quarter. That, along with robust growth in its information technology services division, NCS, helped offset weaker performance by its domestic business.

($1 = 1.2615 Singapore dollars)

(Reporting by Kumar Tanishk in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)

((Tanishk.Kumar@thomsonreuters.com; X: @thatstanishk;))

Feb 12 (Reuters) - Singapore Telecommunications STEL.SI reported a 9.5% rise in its third-quarter underlying net profit on Thursday, driven by strong contributions from regional associates, India's Bharti Airtel BRTI.NS and Thailand's Advanced Info Service ADVANC.BK.

SingTel reported an underlying net profit of S$744 million ($589.77 million) for the three months ended December 31, compared with S$680 million a year earlier.

($1 = 1.2615 Singapore dollars)

(Reporting by Kumar Tanishk in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)

((Tanishk.Kumar@thomsonreuters.com; X: @thatstanishk;))

** Bharti Airtel BRTI.NS posted seventh consecutive quarterly profit jump as subscribers upgraded to higher-margin telecom plans

** Shares of India's second-largest mobile carrier by number of users trading flat on the day

ARPU GROWTH DRIVES MARGINS, BOOSTS FREE CASH FLOW

** Macquarie ("Outperform", PT: 2250 rupees) says co's third-quarter was operationally in line, supported by ARPU-led margin expansion and strong free cash flow

** Goldman Sachs ("Buy", raises PT to 2250 rupees from 2230 rupees) notes a steady quarter with improving free cash flow, resilient wireless growth and easing capex intensity

** ICICI Securities highlights co's resilient India wireless performance, steady ARPU growth, margin expansion and lower net debt on strong cash generation

** Jefferies ("buy", revises PT to 2575 rupees from 2760 rupees) says third-quarter results were broadly in line, with profit growth driven by margin expansion, strong Africa performance and robust free cash flow

(Reporting by Surbhi Misra in Bengaluru)

((Surbhi.Misra@thomsonreuters.com | X: https://twitter.com/SurbhiMisra_ |;))

Adds details, background, company comment

Feb 5 (Reuters) - Bharti Airtel BRTI.NS, India’s second-largest mobile carrier by number of users, posted its seventh straight quarterly profit rise on Thursday, as subscribers upgraded to higher-margin telecom plans amid a steady rise in the customer base.

Indian telecom operators have been focused on boosting revenue by encouraging users to move to higher-value plans.

Both Airtel and rival Reliance Jio RELJ.NS have scrapped their entry-level 4G and 5G packs to encourage migration to pricier options.

Airtel's industry-leading average revenue per user (ARPU) - a key metric of profitability - rose 5.7% year-on-year to 259 rupees during the quarter, with the share of users on faster 4G and 5G connections surging to 79%.

India's telecom sector has witnessed intense competition since Jio's entry in 2017, with the Reliance group company overtaking peers to command the largest user base.

Airtel's India user base rose 12.6% year-on-year to 465.9 million as of December 31, below Jio's 515.3 million.

The firm's consolidated pre-tax profit rose 34.4% to 125.58 billion rupees ($1.39 billion) for the quarter ended December 31, from 93.46 billion rupees a year earlier.

The results include a 2.57 billion rupees charge linked to the implementation of new labour codes. The firm's year-ago profit had got a 75.5 billion rupees boost from a higher valuation of its stake in telecom infrastructure provider Indus Towers INUS.NS.

Airtel's "balance sheet strength, reinforced by strong cash generation and sustained deleveraging" positions it well to invest in new growth opportunities, Executive Vice Chairman Gopal Vittal said in a press release.

The firm's overall revenue climbed 19.6% to 539.82 billion rupees, including proceeds from Indus Towers, in which Airtel bought a majority stake last year.

Last month, Jio reported a 11% rise in quarterly profit while smaller rival Vodafone Idea's VODA.NS losses narrowed.

($1 = 90.2760 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Aleef Jahan in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)

((aleefjahan.cs@thomsonreuters.com))

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.

By Ujjaini Dutta

BENGALURU, Feb 4 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Artificial intelligence giants should brace for a lengthy showdown in India. OpenAI and peers are pushing cheap plans at individuals and courting firms in the world's most populous country. With over 800 million internet users and plenty of data, the market is a tantalising prize. But prying open corporate budgets and consumer wallets will be a slog.

OpenAI in August launched a subscription plan for ChatGPT at 399 rupees a month, or just $4.50 - a fraction of the average $20 monthly subscription cost in the United States - with the first year free from November. Alphabet's Google GOOGL.O teamed up with India's largest telecoms provider, Reliance Jio, months later to offer its 500 million plus users bargain prices to access the U.S. titan's Gemini AI models, charging nothing for the first 18 months - similar to Perplexity's tie-up with Bharti Airtel BRTI.NS.

India is now OpenAI's second-largest market by users after the United States; Sam Altman recently predicted it may soon become its biggest. The OpenAI boss will make his second visit to India in about a year in February, according to TechCrunch, citing sources. That will coincide with a tech summit in New Delhi where Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Nvidia's NVDA.O Jensen Huang and other executives are due to appear. Besides India's vast online population, second after China, the country also offers AI labs troves of multilingual data to train models plus a deep talent pool of software engineers and developers.

OpenAI projects 220 million users globally will pay for ChatGPT by 2030, according to The Information, citing sources. Assume a tenth of those subscribers are in India - roughly the same estimated share as ChatGPT's India users as a percentage of the total - that implies annualised sales of only $1.2 billion on the South Asian country's current subscription offers. That's a small part of OpenAI's total annualised revenue, which topped $20 billion last year.

Raising prices for Indian consumers in the near term looks tough given the intensifying competition. To generate more revenue, it will be crucial to tap enterprise customers - a departure from the United States, where the company still relies on consumers for most of its sales. But in India - and across Asia - traditional cloud computing giants like Microsoft MSFT.O and Amazon.com AMZN.O are established and are planning ambitious expansion plans. Moreover, even though companies are embracing AI, more than 95% of Indian firms surveyed by EY allocate less than a fifth of their IT budgets to AI.

In a sign of how crucial courting Indian companies will be, Anthropic, which owns the popular Claude coding agent, last month appointed a former Microsoft India executive who had "led enterprise AI adoption" as head of its Bengaluru office. The battle for India is just getting underway.

Follow Ujjaini Dutta on LinkedIn and X.

CONTEXT NEWS

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is planning to visit India in mid-February, his first visit to the country in nearly a year, TechCrunch reported on January 23, citing sources. The visit coincides with the country's inaugural India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi that will run between February 16 and 20.

In October, Google offered its $400 Gemini AI Pro subscription for free for 18 months to 500 million customers of Reliance Jio, India's biggest telecom player. OpenAI began offering its ChatGPT Go subscription free to users in India for one year starting November 4.

(Editing by Robyn Mak; Production by Aditya Srivastav)

((For previous columns by the author, Reuters customers can click on DUTTA/ujjaini.dutta@thomsonreuters.com))

Jan 27 (Reuters) - Indian telecom operator Vodafone Idea VODA.NS reported a narrower fiscal third-quarter loss on Tuesday, helped by higher data consumption and more users upgrading to higher-paying 4G and 5G plans.

The debt-laden telecom operator's consolidated loss after tax narrowed to 52.86 billion rupees ($577.53 million) in the quarter ended December 31, from a loss of 66.09 billion rupees a year earlier.

Vodafone Idea has been investing in its 4G and 5G infrastructure in recent years to improve service quality and stem subscriber losses.

Average revenue per user, a key industry metric, rose 7.3% year-on-year to 186 rupees. The increase followed a 2% rise in 4G and 5G subscribers and a 26.7% jump in average data usage among those users.

However, Vodafone's ARPU still trails rivals Reliance Jio RELJ.NS's 211.4 rupees and Bharti Airtel's BRTI.NS 256 rupees.

Earlier this month, the government capped Vodafone Idea's long-pending adjusted gross revenue dues at $13.79 million annually over the next six years, easing near-term cash flow pressures.

The company on Tuesday said its AGR dues stood frozen at 876.95 billion rupees as of December 31, adding that the amount remains subject to reassessment.

India's third-largest telecom provider, 49% owned by the Indian government, was formed in 2018 through a merger between the Indian arm of UK's Vodafone Group VOD.L and Aditya Birla Group's Idea Cellular.

The company has posted losses every quarter since and has ceded market share to market leaders Jio and Airtel, as it struggles with more than $22 billion in debt and a network rollout that lags larger rivals.

Overall revenue rose year-on-year to 113.23 billion rupees, beating analysts' estimates of 112.77 billion rupees.

($1 = 91.5270 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Aleef Jahan and Nishit Navin in Bengaluru; Editing by Ronojoy Mazumdar and Tasim Zahid)

((aleefjahan.cs@thomsonreuters.com))

By Aditya Kalra and Munsif Vengattil

NEW DELHI, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's telecom company is among those urging the government to act over what they describe as monopolistic practices at Gautam Adani's new Mumbai airport, saying the facility is blocking operators from providing mobile connectivity, according to a letter seen by Reuters.

Adani-run Navi Mumbai International Airport denied the allegations, but the dispute highlights the growing rivalry between India's two richest men, whose conglomerates increasingly compete across sectors from green energy to data centres.

The airport, located on Mumbai’s outskirts, began operations in December after being inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It is the latest addition to Adani’s portfolio of eight airports, with plans for more.

Within days of opening, passengers complained on social media about poor or non-existent mobile coverage and raised privacy concerns after spotting billboards offering free airport Wi-Fi.

TELECOM OPERATORS DEMAND ACCESS TO AIRPORT INFRASTRUCTURE

A January 13 letter from Cellular Operators Association of India to India's government states Adani's airport must grant access to install equipment as required by Indian regulations for public entities, which includes airports, and that a denial has created a "monopolistic bottleneck".

In its statement, Navi Mumbai International Airport said it had deployed “state-of-the-art solutions” and that operators could partner with an entity managing the airport’s in-building network infrastructure.

COAI, which represents Ambani's Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel BRTI.NS and Vodafone Idea VODA.NS, said it had no comment beyond the letter, which is not public.

The companies and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, did not respond to Reuters queries.

PASSENGER DISTRESS: 'WE CAN'T CALL PEOPLE'

Jio leads India's telecom market with over 500 million subscribers, followed by Airtel at 314 million and Vodafone at nearly 128 million.

Online, passengers have voiced frustration that the airport’s Wi-Fi cannot be accessed without mobile coverage because login requires a one-time password sent via WhatsApp.

"You'll be thankful to see free Wi-Fi banners, thinking you can at least book cabs now. You go to the Wi-Fi network and try to log in, but it requires an OTP (one time password)," X user adarsxh_baab wrote on Jan. 13.

Adani's statement added that when network coverage is left to individual operators, they often provide "sub-optimal coverage" in sensitive areas such as baggage handling zones.

COAI also said the airport is demanding around $102,000 per operator each month - nearly $5 million annually for four carriers - to use its centralised network, an allegation Adani denied.

"We can't call people, pay for cabs or even book anything. If you're a solo traveller it's hell," X user Srihita Vanguri wrote on the platform on Sunday.

(Reporting by Aditya Kalra and Munsif Vengattil, Editing by Louise Heavens)

((munsif.vengattil@thomsonreuters.com;))

Dec 24 (Reuters) -

• BHARTI AND WARBURG PINCUS WILL COLLECTIVELY OWN A 49% STAKE IN HAIER INDIA- STATEMENT

• HAIER GROUP WILL RETAIN A 49% OWNERSHIP STAKE IN HAIER INDIA - STATEMENT

Further company coverage: 600690.SS

((Reuters.Briefs@thomsonreuters.com;;))

By Aditya Kalra and Munsif Vengattil

NEW DELHI, Dec 5 (Reuters) - India's government is reviewing a telecom industry proposal to force smartphone firms to enable satellite location tracking that is always activated for better surveillance, a move opposed by Apple, Google and Samsung due to privacy concerns, according to documents, emails and five sources.

A fierce privacy debate erupted in India this week after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government was forced to rescind an order requiring smartphone makers to preload a state-run cyber safety app on all devices after activists and politicians raised concerns about potential snooping.

For years, the Modi administration has been concerned its agencies do not get precise locations when legal requests are made to telecom firms during investigations. Under the current system, the firms are limited to using cellular tower data that can only provide an estimated area location, which can be off by several meters.

The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), which represents Reliance's RELI.NS Jio and Bharti Airtel BRTI.NS, has proposed that precise user locations should only be provided if the government orders smartphone makers to activate A-GPS technology - which uses satellite signals and cellular data - according to a June internal federal IT ministry email.

That would require location services to always be activated in smartphones with no option for users to disable them. Apple AAPL.O, Samsung 005930.KS and Alphabet's GOOGL.O Google have told New Delhi that should not be mandated, said three of the sources who have direct knowledge of the deliberations.

A measure to track device-level location has no precedent anywhere else in the world, lobbying group India Cellular & Electronics Association (ICEA), which represents both Apple and Google, wrote in a confidential July letter to the government, which was viewed by Reuters.

"The A-GPS network service ... (is) not deployed or supported for location surveillance," said the letter, which added that the measure "would be a regulatory overreach."

'DEDICATED SURVEILLANCE DEVICE'

India's home ministry had scheduled a meeting of top smartphone industry executives to discuss the matter on Friday but it was postponed, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said. On Thursday, Reuters sent questions related to this topic to the ministry.

India's IT and home ministries, which are both analysing the telecom industry's proposal, did not respond to Reuters queries.

Apple, Samsung, Google, Reliance and Airtel did not respond to requests for comment. Lobby groups ICEA and COAI also did not respond.

At this point, no policy decision has been made by the IT or home ministries.

Taking advantage of A-GPS technology - which is typically only turned on when certain apps are running or when emergency calls are being made - could provide authorities with location data precise enough that a user can be tracked to within about a meter, according to technology experts.

"This proposal would see phones operate as a dedicated surveillance device," said Junade Ali, a digital forensics expert associated with Britain's Institution of Engineering and Technology.

Cooper Quintin, a security researcher at the U.S.-based Electronic Frontier Foundation, said he had not heard of any such proposal elsewhere, calling it "pretty horrifying."

Governments worldwide routinely seek new ways to better track cellphone users' movements or data. Russia has mandated the installation of a state-backed communications app on all mobile phones in the country.

TELCOS VS SMARTPHONE FIRMS

India is the world's second-biggest mobile market with 735 million smartphones as of mid-2025, where Google's Android powers more than 95% of the devices, with the rest using Apple's iOS, Counterpoint Research says.

Apple and Google's lobby group, the ICEA, argued in their July letter that there are significant "legal, privacy, and national security concerns" with the proposal from the telecom group.

It warned their user base would include people from the military, judges, corporate executives and journalists, adding that proposed location tracking risked their security given that they hold sensitive information.

Even the old way of location tracking is becoming problematic, the telecom group said, as smartphone makers show a pop-up message to users, alerting them that their "carrier is trying to access your location."

"A target can easily ascertain that he is being tracked by security agencies," said the telecom group, urging the government to order phone makers to disable the pop-up features.

Privacy concerns should take priority and India should also not consider disabling the pop-ups, Apple and Google's group argued in its July letter to the government.

This will "ensure transparency and user control over their location."

(Reporting by Aditya Kalra and Munsif Vengattil; Editing by Thomas Derpinghaus)

((Email: aditya.kalra@tr.com; X: @adityakalra;))

Nov 28 (Reuters) - India's Adani Group plans to invest up to $5 billion in Alphabet-owned Google's GOOGL.O India AI data centre project, an executive said on Friday, as it seeks to cash in on booming demand for data capacity in the world's most populous nation.

In October, Google said it would invest $15 billion over five years to set up an artificial intelligence data centre in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, its biggest investment in India.

AI requires enormous computing power, pushing demand for specialised data centres that enable thousands of chips to be linked in clusters.

Adani Group CFO Jugeshinder Singh said the Google project could mean an investment of up to $5 billion for Adani Connex - a joint venture between Adani Enterprises ADEL.NS and private data centre operator EdgeConneX.

"It's not just Google, there are a lot of parties that would like to work with us, especially when the data centre capacity goes to gigawatt and higher," Singh told reporters on Friday.

Google has committed to spending about $85 billion this year to expand data centre capacity as tech companies invest heavily in infrastructure to meet the booming demand for AI services.

Indian billionaires Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani have also unveiled investments in building data centre capacity.

The data centre campus in the port city of Visakhapatnam will have an initial power capacity of 1 gigawatt.

($1 = 89.3660 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Harshita Meenaktshi and Dhwani Pandya; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

((HarshitaMeenaktshi.R@thomsonreuters.com;))