Bharti Airtel receives nod to acquire Tigo Rwanda

Telecom major Bharti Airtel received the regulatory approval from the Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (RURA) for the acquisition of Tigo Rwanda on Wednesday. Tigo Rwanda a mobile phone operator an d a digital lifestyle innovator is a subsidiary of Luxembourg based Millicom International Cellular.

Following the acquisition, the Airtel Rwanda operations are expected to become EBITDA positive resulting in Airtel’s Africa business becoming profitable at the operational level. Furthermore, the merged enterprise will have the largest customer base in Rwanda with 5.9 million subscribers and will provide voice and data services, global roaming and banking services.

Airtel provides its services in over 16 countries, including 14 countries in Africa. It had an aggregate customer base of 84 million as of December 30, 2017.

The company had posted a slump in its profit by over 39 per cent to Rs. 306 crore for the third quarter of the fiscal year 2018 on a yearly basis.

Bharti Airtel closed with a loss of 6.51 per cent on the bourses on Wednesday. The stock closed at Rs. 458.95 per share. It had hit an intraday high of Rs. 491 per share and an intraday low of Rs. 455.30 per share on BSE on Wednesday.