Bharti Airtel Limited (Airtel) and Tata Group are discussing a potential merger of their direct-to-home (DTH) businesses.
This is in reply to an ET report from yesterday that said that Airtel and Tata Play are finalizing a merger of their direct-to-home (DTH) services, Tata Play and Airtel Digital TV. The clarification by Airtel in the exchange filing says that the discussions are still in the early stages, and no agreement has been reached yet.
The potential merger would combine Airtel’s DTH business, Bharti Telemedia Limited, with Tata Group’s DTH business, Tata Play Limited. The merger would create a larger and more efficient DTH company, which would be better positioned to compete in the Indian market.
Earlier report said that Airtel will own 52-55%, with Tata Play shareholders, including Disney, holding 45-48%. It added that Airtel plans to shift Tata Play’s top 5 million DTH users to broadband, aiming for higher revenue per user.
We should know more details regarding this in the coming months.