Bharti Airtel to acquire equity stake in Bengaluru based technology startup Lavelle Networks

The acquiree company- Lavelle Networks serves a wide spectrum of industry segments and specializes in Software-defined Wide Area Network solutions.

Bharti Airtel Ltd, a leading Indian multinational telecom service provider, announced today about its plans to acquire a nearly 25 per cent equity stake in Lavelle Networks, a technology startup based in Bengaluru.  

The acquiree company- Lavelle Networks serves a wide spectrum of industry segments and specializes in Software-defined Wide Area Network solutions. Its SD-WAN Platforms are being used by top global enterprise brands in various industries for upgrading their infrastructure to next-generation WAN and Hybrid WAN Solutions.  

Why this acquisition? 

The need for on-demand and reliable network connectivity by an increasing number of enterprises moving to cloud-based applications has resulted in a surge in demand for software-defined solutions that can serve a cloud-based hybrid IT environment.  

This is where the expertise of Lavelle Networks comes into the picture, as SD-WAN forms an essential part of this process. The F&S End-User Survey conducted in 2021 showed that about 62 per cent of enterprises plan to deploy SD-WAN across their organization in the next 1-2 years.  

The acquisition agreement is subject to applicable statutory approvals. Upon approval and execution of the agreement, Airtel, as a part of its NaaS portfolio, will offer software-defined connectivity solutions from Lavelle Networks and co-create a host of innovations as part of its NaaS platform.  

Reacting to this development, at 3.24 pm, the share price of Bharti Airtel Ltd was trading at Rs 727.25, an increase of 1.59 per cent from the previous week’s closing price of Rs 715.90 on BSE.