TIL Desk/Business/New Delhi/ Fitch Ratings on Tuesday affirmed India-based Bharti Airtel’s Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) and senior unsecured rating at ‘BBB-‘ with the outlook on the IDR as stable.”The stable outlook reflects our belief that revenue from Bharti’s Indian mobile segment may recover on higher data volume and its African and enterprise business segments will continue to expand.
We believe India’s tariff levels are unsustainable in the medium- to long-term in light of the low return on investment for telcos. In addition, Bharti is committed to an investment-grade rating and may explore stake sales in non-core assets to support its balance sheet,” Fitch said.
It said Bharti’s rating reflects its diversified and integrated business profile, with operations spanning mobile, fixed-line, digital TV, tower and enterprise sectors in India as well as mobile operations in Sri Lanka and 14 African markets.
“Bharti will increase its Indian mobile revenue market share to around 35%-36%, subject to its successful acquisition of Tata Group, despite high competitive intensity in the country’s mobile sector. A further increase in competitive intensity could weigh on the company’s ratings, as it has low rating headroom.”
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