Untie Vodafone, Bharti: SingTel

Singapore Telecom (SingTel) is believed to have sought the removal of Vodafone representatives from the board of Bharti Airtel, following the British telecom major's bid to acquire a majority stake in Hutchison Essar.

Sources close to the development said SingTel's objection was based on a possible conflict of interest if Vodafone continued to have two representatives on the Bharti board.

SingTel has over 15.6 per cent stake and Vodafone has a 10 per cent stake in Bharti. When contacted, a Bharti spokesperson said the company did not comment on discussions that took place between shareholders, nor on market speculation. SingTel and Vodafone officials could not be contacted.

Vodafone is believed to have put in a bid to acquire Hutchison's stake, which values Hutchison Essar at $17 billion.

The Essar group, Hutchison's local partner with a 33 per cent stake, is learnt to have offered $11 billion for Hutchison's stake. Reliance Communications declared its interest in the stake for the first time yesterday.

Back home, Vodafone has received support from Standard Life, its most critical shareholder, on its plan to buy a controlling stake in Hutchison-Essar.

Standard Life, which holds a 1.7 per cent stake in Vodafone, was one of the three major shareholders to openly oppose the re-election of Vodafone Chief Executive Arun Sarin at last year's annual meeting.

However, Vodafone shareholders were not sure whether it would overpay in the bidding to acquire assets in the hugely growing Indian telecom market.

India has over 136 million customers, with above 5 million subscribers being added every month.