Bharti Telecom

completed

Project Description: This proposed IFC investment has two components, (i) an equity investment of up to US$20 million in the Bharti Group at a holding company level ( the two main telecom holding companies are Bharti Telecom Limited (BTL) and Bharti Tele-Ventures Limited; and (ii) a partial guarantee, with an initial exposure about US$50 million, of a Rupee denominated debenture to fund the capital expenditure program (from start up till March 30, 2002) of Bharti Mobile Limited (BML), a subsidiary of BTL, which operates cellular services in the states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Bharti Telecom Limited is a holding company that controls both cellular, fiber optic and basic telephony operating companies as well as a VSAT and an internet service provider (ISP) company. The purpose of the equity investment is to fund its capital expenditure program. BTL’s subsidiaries have cellular licenses for the cities of Delhi and Chennai (Bharti Cellular), the states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh (Bharti Mobile), and Himachal Pradesh, and a fixed line license for the State of Madhya Pradesh (Bharti Telenet). BTL has around 350,000 customers on its cellular network and about 100,000 customers on its fixed line network. Another subsidiary of BTL in collaboration with British Telecom, has recently entered into the provision of ISP services with around 70,000 customers along with VSAT services.