Bharti Airtel Ltd.

Bharti Airtel, a leading global telecommunications company with operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa, and Qualcomm Incorporated, the world leader in 3G and next-generation mobile technologies, have signed an agreement for the former to acquire an interest in Qualcomm Asia Pacific's (Qualcomm AP) Indian BWA entities.

Under the agreement, Bharti has made an initial investment of approximately $ 165 million to acquire 49% interest in Qualcomm AP’s India entities, which hold BWA licenses in Delhi, Mumbai, Haryana and Kerala - partly by way of acquisition of 26% equity interest equally held by Global Holding Corporation and Tulip Telecom, and the rest by way of subscription of fresh equity in those entities.  The agreement contemplates that once commercial operations are launched, subject to certain terms and conditions, Bharti would assume complete ownership and financial responsibility for the BWA entities by the end of 2014.

Bharti already has BWA licenses in four circles - Kolkata, Karnataka, Punjab and Maharashtra - and 3G licenses in thirteen circles in India. However, with this agreement, Bharti has secured a nation-wide broadband leadership through a combination of 4G and 3G, with its own networks in 18 circles. Bharti has already taken the lead in LTE TDD space by launching 4G services in Kolkata and Karnataka Circles.

Bharti Airtel is a leading integrated telecommunications company with operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa. Headquartered in New Delhi, India, the company ranks amongst the top 5 mobile service providers globally in terms of subscribers.