Bharti Airtel raises stake in Qualcomm's India venture

Bharti Airtel has acquired an additional 2 per cent stake in all the four Indian broadband wireless access (BWA) entities of Qualcomm, making them its subsidiaries.

The purchase is expected to aid the Sunil Bharti Mittal-led group to offer services in eight circles.

"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 telecom service provider said in a statement.

On May 24, 2012, Bharti Airtel and Qualcomm had 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.

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 for it.

Shares of Bharti Airtel reacted positively to the announcement and were trading 2.12 per cent higher at Rs 300.50 in afternoon trade on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

With inputs from PTI