0 SHARES Share TweetMumbai, India, Jan 28 – Google will invest up to $1 billion in India’s second-largest mobile operator, Airtel, the companies said Friday, as the Android-maker looks to bolster its presence in the vast nation’s booming telecoms market. The global tech giant will buy a $700 million stake in billionaire Sunil Mittal’s Bharti Airtel, giving it 1.28 percent ownership, the firms said in a joint statement. Google already holds a 7.7-percent stake in Indian market leader Reliance Jio, owned by Asia’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, following a $4.5-billion investment in 2020. The two companies collaborated on a 4G-enabled, low-cost smartphone that launched in November last year. Jio has been locked in fierce competition with Airtel and British telecoms giant Vodafone’s local unit Vi since it kicked off a price war in 2016 by offering dirt-cheap internet and free calls.

Source: Daily Nation January 28, 2022 19:27 UTC