A man uses his phone as he passes by a signage of Airtel at the India Mobile Congress 2025 in Delhi, India, on October 11, 2025. (Photo by Kabir Jhangiani/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
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India’s second-largest telecom company, Bharti Airtel, is doubling down on its Africa and U.K. bets, joining a growing number of companies from the South Asian country that are looking to expand their global footprints.
Bharti Airtel on Thursday sought shareholders’ approval to increase its stake in the U.K-listed Airtel Africa to 79% from around 62.7% in a cashless share-swap deal, worth 282.22 billion rupees ($2.9 billion), the Indian firm said in an exchange filing.
Africa is a “high-growth potential” market for the Indian company and accounts for over a quarter of Bharti Airtel’s consolidated revenue in the financial year ending March 2026, it added.
Bharti is also seeking to raise its stake in British multinational telecommunications firm BT to just under 30% from 24.95% to gain further “economic exposure,” but not a complete takeover, Reuters said in a report Friday.
“It could increase its stake to as much as 29.9% to gain greater economic exposure to BT, but does not plan to pursue a full takeover,” according to the report. A Bharti spokesperson told Reuters that the company “currently has no plans to increase its stake.”
BT Group and Bharti Airtel did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
The reported move comes at a time when overseas stock markets are outperforming local indices, with the FTSE 100 having risen nearly 19% over the past one year, while the Indian benchmark index Nifty 50 is down more than 4%.
Bharti Airtel, India’s third-largest company by market capitalization, is among several large Indian corporates exploring overseas investments.
On a 12-month trailing basis ending in January 2026, overseas investment by Indian companies rose to $35.8 billion, 2.6 times higher over two years, global brokerage Morgan Stanley said in a research note last month.
Bharti first invested in Africa in 2010, when it acquired telecom operations of Zain for $10.7 billion. In the last year, the share of Airtel Africa, which provides telecommunications and mobile money services in 14 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, has risen over 78%, according to data from LSEG.
The planned IPO of Airtel Mobile Commerce B.V., a key subsidiary of Airtel Africa, could unlock “significant value” in the near future, Bharti said in the filing.
Bharti’s investment in BT has paid off as well. It acquired a 24.5% stake in BT in 2024 for nearly $4 billion, and since then, the shares of the British telecom group have risen 55%. Meanwhile, shares of Bharti Airtel are up just 3.4% over the last year.
