Airtel Sells Majority Stake in Beetel to US-Based Brightstar

Telecom major Bharti Airtel on Tuesday sold majority stake in its telecom manufacturing and distribution arm Beetel Teletech to US-based global distribution firm Brightstar for an undisclosed sum.

Sunil Bharti Mittal-led Bharti group ventured into telecom business in 1985 with introduction of Beetel and later diversified services.

Both the companies, Airtel and Brightstar, did not disclose actual stake transacted in Beetel.

"The new mobile business and related technologies that Brightstar is bringing to Beetel will help drive significant growth by leveraging our deep distribution strength," Rakesh Bharti Mittal, Vice Chairman of Bharti Enterprises, said in a statement.

Beetel started with making fixed lines phones for telecom public sector unit BSNL, MTNL and Airtel. The company diversified into distribution business.

At present, besides manufacturing, it distributes products of multinational technology companies such as Samsung, Panasonic, Polycom, Avaya, AMX, Extron, RADWIN, Huawei and SanDisk.

Beetel has B2B distribution reach in India with more than 500 distributors and partners, 10,000 retailers and 28 warehouses spanning across the country.

Beetel is a recognised leader in technology distribution in India, and we look forward to enhancing the company's strong position to bring the latest mobile technologies and services to the marketplace, "Marcelo Claure, Founder & CEO of Brightstar Corp, said.

As the largest specialised wireless distributor in the world, Brightstar will bring the latest mobile devices and accessories from top manufacturers for distribution through Beetel's distribution platform throughout India, the statement said.

"The Indian mobile market is entering the next phase of growth, which will be driven by data services on 3G and 4G technologies. The smartphone market in the country recorded triple-digit growth in 2013 and offers a huge opportunity going forward," Mitta said.