The Hindu Business Line : Bharti Telesoft eyes acquisitions in Africa, Latin America

Going places
‘We are also eyeing companies which have expertise in the m-commerce space’
It is also mulling an initial public offering to fund its expansion plans

Thomas K. Thomas

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New Delhi, June 23 Bharti Group’s promoters may have lost out their bid to get into Africa through MTN, but its software unit Bharti Telesoft is eyeing acquisitions in Africa among other countries in order to expand its global presence.

Bharti Telesoft develops value added services for mobile operators and is eyeing $300 million revenues over the next 2-3 years primarily from global operations.

Speaking to Business Line, Mr Manoranjan Mohapatra, Chief Executive Officer, Bharti Telesoft Ltd, said: “We are looking for acquisitions in various geographies, including Africa and Latin America. We are also eyeing companies which have expertise in the m-commerce space. We expect 70 per cent of our revenues to come from international markets compared to 45 per cent at present.”

The company has deployed over 400 solutions in more than 45 countries, for over 85 service providers delivering services to over 350 million subscribers worldwide. Bharti Telesoft’s customers include operators such as MTN, Orange/France Telecom, Celtel, Vodafone, Airtel, Grameenphone and the Orascom group, as well as equipment vendor partners, such as Nokia and Ericsson.

The company is also mulling an initial public offering (IPO) to fund its expansion plans.

“When I joined the company I was given the mandate to take revenues to $200 million within three years and then go for an IPO. We are on track to achieve that goal, though it will be difficult to say when we will go for the IPO,” Mr Mohapatra said. The company will be launching operations in Latin America through partnership with a local service provider.

In India, Bharti Telesoft is the number two player after OnMobile. The company offers value added services (VAS) solutions to almost all the cellular operators in the country. VAS accounts for about 20 per cent of the operator’s revenues at present, which is expected to touch 25 per cent, according to Mr Mohapatra. “We see a huge opportunity in the Indian VAS space as subscriber base grows up to the 600-million mark over the next three years. As operators go rural, we are also investing in developing new products that cater to the mobile users in villages,” he said.

One such product being developed is Virtual Phone that will enable an entire community to posses a phone connection without actually having to buy a handset. A single handset will be programmed to accommodate phone books and call details of all the members in a village. Another product being developed by Bharti Telesoft will enable rural subscribers, who may not be able to read or write, to access VAS.

Bharti Telesoft is jointly owned by Bharti Enterprises, Sequoia Capital and Cisco Systems.