Davos 2017: Bharti Mittal Calls Voda-Idea Merger a ‘Perfect Match’

Mittal spoke to BloombergQuint’s Menaka Doshi on the sidelines of the 47th World Economic Forum at Davos.

Sunil Bharti Mittal. (Photo: BloombergQuint)

Bharti Enterprises Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal said the merger of Vodafone India Ltd and Idea Cellular Ltd, if it were to indeed materialise, would be a ‘perfect match’. Mittal was speaking to BloombergQuint’s Menaka Doshi on the sidelines of the 47th World Economic Forum at Davos.

It’s a perfect match, if you look at it, the match is not bad. But you know I can’t sit on the minds of Vittorio (Colao) or Kumar (Mangalam Birla). The strength and weaknesses match very well. Rural - urban, structured portfolio...makes for a good business case and I would support it.

Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman, Bharti Enterprises

Batting for consolidation in the sector, Mittal said a positive consequence of Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd’s entry and the resulting competition has been the weeding out of smaller players from the industry.

One effect of Jio has been that the small operators are gone. I support consolidation in the industry, wherever we have seen two-three operators with large markets, they have been profitable, they have been able to make large investments and give a lot of revenue to the government.

Eyeing Telenor?

It’s time for Telenor to exit its India business, Mittal said, adding that Bharti Airtel is in conversation with the Norwegian company. In the past, Bharti has acquired spectrum from Videocon, Augere and Aircel.

I think it is time to go. I am friends with Telenor globally. In India, they have competed with us head-on. They created a lot of difficulties in 6-7 circles with a value play. But I think it is in the interest of India to give a good exit to companies like Telenor rather than wasting all the efforts. So I would say we look at everything. But I think they are talking to many people, not just us. So I don’t know what the outcome would be.

(This article was originally published in BloombergQuint)