New Delhi: Bharti group Chairman Sunil Mittal has said he has no intention of buying back around 4 per cent stake that UK-based Vodafone, which also operates in India, holds in his Bharti Airtel.
Vodafone will have to sell its entire stake in Airtel following new norms issued by government that bars a telecom operator from holding any kind of stake in competition under Unified Licences.
In a letter to the Telecom Ministry in July, Vodafone said it holds 4.4 per cent stake indirectly in Bharti.
Vodafone and Airtel currently operate on Unified Access Service Licence (UASL) licence, or 2G licences, under which telecom companies are permitted to hold stake up to 9.9 per cent in other firms.
"We have no intention (to do that)," Mittal told reporters after the company's Annual General Meeting, when asked whether the company would buyback its Vodafone stake.
According to the new rules, telecom service providers operating under previous licences will have to migrate to new licences on expiry of their permits and sell stakes held by them in any rival within a year of getting UL.
Vodafone's three permits, Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata will expire in last quarter of 2014. The last 2G licence of Vodafone, issued for Madhya Pradesh area, is valid till 2027.
Two permits of Airtel in Delhi and Kolkata will also expire in November 2014 while some of its licences are valid up to 2024.
On impact of depreciating value of rupee on foreign debts that company has taken, Mittal said: "We have always said our debt is at comfortable level. Our 2.5 debt to EBIDTA ratio is at very comfortable level. Most of other companies are at 3 and some are even at 4. Our debt situation is very comfortable."
Bharti Airtel's net debt in dollar terms was $11,738 million as on March 31, 2013.
Mittal also denied reports of Airtel planning to acquire Mumbai based Loop Mobiles.
