On June30, Competition Commission of India (CCI) approved Google’s acquisition of 1.28% stake in telecom provider Bharti Airtel.
The deal has been cleared on the basis of modifications offered by the acquirer, according to an official release.
Google International LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Google LLC, a Delaware limited liability company and wholly owned subsidiary of Alphabet Inc. Google offers various products and services, including its flagship search service, its Android operating system, and its Play app store.
Bharti Airtel Limited (BAL), headquartered in India, is an international communications solutions provider with over 480 million customers in 17 countries across South Asia and Africa. BAL’s retail portfolio includes, amongst others, high speed mobile broadband, Airtel Xstream Fiber, streaming services (music and video), digital payments and financial services. For enterprise customers, BAL offers solutions including secure connectivity, cloud and data centre services, cyber security,advertising services, and cloud-based communication.
In January 2022, Airtel had announced that Google will invest $700 million to buy 1.28% stake in Airtel at a price of Rs 734 per share.
The investment came as part of the larger Google For India Digitisation Fund, which was announced in July 2020 by its chief executive officer (CEO) Sundar Pichai.
The tech giant had also said then that it would invest an additional $300 million towards potential multi-year commercial agreements with Airtel.
