Bharti Airtel to invest $1 bn every year in Africa.

Telecom major Bharti Airtel will invest USD 1 billion every year on its African operations over the next few years.

'Airtel will invest USD 1 billion in Africa per annum over the next few years,' Bharti Enterprises Founder and Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum.

Airtel has operations in 17 African countries. The company has deployed 3G network in 14 of them.

Mittal, who is the co-chair of the event, said that company will focus on existing operations across 17 countries rather than expanding to newer markets.

Airtel had entered the African market in 2010 after acquiring Zain Telecom for about USD 10.7 billion.

In the last fiscal, Airtel had made capital expenditure of USD 635 million in Africa.

The cumulative investment of Airtel was USD 14,388 million in Africa at the end of 2013-14.

THE FINANCIAL EXPRESS