Amazon is in early-stage talks to buy a stake worth at least $2 billion in Bharti Airtel according to a report in Reuters.The planned investment, if completed, would mean Amazon acquiring a roughly 5% stake based on the current market value of Bharti, which is India's third-largest telecoms company with more than 300 million subscribers. The news comes at a time when global players are placing major bets on the digital arm of Reliance IndustriesNSE 2.47 %, which owns Bharti's telecom rival Jio.
Reliance's digital unit has raised $10 billion in recent weeks from Facebook, KKR and others. The talks between Bharti and Amazon are at an early stage and the deal terms could change, or an agreement may not be reached, said two of the three sources, all of whom declined to be identified because the discussions are confidential. The Seattle-based company has in recent years also expanded its digital offerings in India via its voice-activated speakers, video streaming and cloud storage, as it seeks to tap a rising number of internet and smartphone users in the country of 1.3 billion people. Meanwhile, Amazon refuse to comment on the recent development.