MUMBAI - Months after billionaire Mukesh Ambani's upstart Indian wireless carrier swept into the No 1 spot, a trounced rival is mounting a comeback, and investors are loving it.
"The market assumed Bharti Airtel would take months to recover from the onslaught of Reliance Jio," said Arun Kejriwal, director at KRIS, an investment advisory firm in Mumbai."But they raised funds from the market and have moved quickly to take advantage of the duopolistic nature of Indian telecom landscape."
Airtel has shown it intends to compete for the same turf through its payments, video-on-demand and e-commerce divisions. The talks with US online retail giant Amazon are over a possible 5 per cent stake in Airtel, Reuters said Thursday, citing anonymous sources. A deal will help Amazon access the Indian wireless carrier's 300 million subscribers.
Airtel is also raising cash to pay down fees related to the court ruling and as it expands 4G coverage across India. Airtel's parent Bharti Telecom last month said it is seeking about US$1 billion by selling a stake in the Indian mobile carrier after its share price hit a record in May. In January, Airtel raised US$3 billion in a sale of shares and bonds to help pay fees.
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