Bharti sells majority stake in Beetel to US-based firm

Bharti Enterprises, on Tuesday, said it had agreed to sell a majority stake in its group company, Beetel Teletech, to a unit of US-based Brightstar Corp, for an undisclosed value.

Bharti Enterprises-owned Beetel Teletech distributes and sells telecommunications and technology products. The $7.3-billion (revenue) Brightstar sells wireless communication products in more than 50 countries. Fifty seven per cent of the company is owned by Japan’s SoftBank Corp.

The deal could benefit Brightstar to enter India’s fast growing mobile phones industry. Bharti did not comment on how it might use the proceeds from the deal.

“The new mobile business and related technologies that Brightstar is bringing to Beetel will help drive significant growth by leveraging our deep distribution strength,” Rakesh Bharti Mittal, vice-chairman, Bharti Enterprises, said.

Founded in 1985, Beetel started with making fixed lines phones for telecom public sector units BSNL and MTNL, and for Bharti Airtel.