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Chairman-cum-Managing Director of Bharti Enterprises Sunil Mittal on Tuesday said 'Bharti Airtel Limited' has become the world's fifth largest mobile phone services provider. The notable mark was achieved after it acquired the African assets of Kuwait-based Zain enterprises. The deal enables Bharti Airtel to extend its services in 15 countries across the African continent. With this, the company has emerged as a truly global venture, covering nearly 1.8 billion people in 18 countries of Asia and Africa under its wireless operations. "The deal is expected to bring in revenues worth 12.4 billion dollars and Earnings Before Interests, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization (EBITDA) over 4.7 billion dollars to Bharti Airtel," Mittal said. The deal signifies the growing lure of Africa that is attracting various international business ventures and industries to set up base in the continent. "I am pleased that we are starting with a bank. 42 million customers (which) is the customer base of Zain Africa. 3.6 billion dollars in revenue and just under 1.2 billion dollars in EBITDA is what Africa offers us at this starting point," added Mittal. Expressing his joy, Mittal said that the acquisition is the largest ever cross border deal in emerging markets. "This deal is the largest deal ever across sectors in the emerging markets, truly puts in a stamp of approval that large deals are no more just the domain of the developed world. The developing world has emerged and come to maturity to handle multi-billion dollar deals," said Mittal. "This deal, which is in excess of 10 billion dollars, truly represents one of the finest examples of cooperation between two continents especially in the South-South region," he added. Joint Managing Director of Bharti Airtel Manoj Kohli and Deputy Group CEO of Bharti enterprises Akhil Gupta were also present on the occasion.

Bharti Airtel Limited' becomes world's fifth largest service provider