Things are getting quite intrsting @ Airtel :
Disc : Invested.
Bharti Airtel to acquire 5.2% stake in Avaada MHBuldhana for ₹4.55 cr
Can someone enlighten me on the objective of this acquisition by a telecom player investing in power sector ?
I think it is mandatory for the companies to prove that their X% (15% I read elsewhere not sure this is the exact number as of today ) of energy usage is from renewable sources. So an enterprise has two options
Install the renewable energy plants and produce / consume the electricity for their own purpose , and also apply for REC certification , if they are generating more power than their actual quota that needs to be met (15%) then can issue REC certificate that can be sold to others (this can be traded on platforms like IEX ) , enterprises which cannot generate on their own have to buy these REC bonds
I think in the scenario airtel acquired this entity to met it’s obligations under the power consumption laws
Feel free to correct my understanding
One logical guess could be to have access to power infra expertise, all of airtel operations need power as cost line item and this acquisition gives access to better manage and optimize such costs.
While one is playing on demand facing front( increase ARPU, customer LTV etc), it also makes sense to keep cost efficiencies as continuous process.
However should this be done by infra unit?( Bharti infratel) …probably more adjacent
But again its a very small investment so not much to read at this point…
It is not surprising ! 
Every telecom tower would need power ranging from 2 KW to 8 KW. So Bharati telecom as a company consumes electricity through
Bharati infra which it promotes.
As per regulatory requirement, if a company consumes electricity, it needs to use green energy. Therefore, the company as it expands it will have to keep on investing on green energy…even if the company does not practically use the green energy it purchases in all its towers…the company can always sell the green energy to others…
Last year also bharati airtel invested Rs 5 crores in solar power…this is the second time… .
If it keeps on investing in Green power indicates that it is expanding and consuming more and more conventional electricity…
If you kill a tree at one place for your need, you need to plant another tree !
Oneweb A Joint Collaboration with UK gov, airtel owns 50%
OneWeb re-born: Mittal plans India trials next year
Seems like they did it for regulatory requirement as per disclosure made
In terms of Regulation 30 of SEBI Listing Regulations, we wish to inform you that the Company
has entered into an Agreement on November 19, 2020 for acquisition of Equity Shares in Avaada
MHBuldhana Private Limited a special purpose vehicle formed for the purpose of owning and
operating the Captive Power Plant, in terms of the regulatory requirement for captive power
consumption under electricity laws.
I have been thinking about this. I see multiple drivers:
- Move towards to carbon neutral foot-print. Telecom towers and other data centers are power hungry entities and need to be backed up by diesel gensets. Now if they produce same amount of green power elsewhere they achieve carbon neutrality.
- Lot of places telecom towers are roof mounted. They lease all roof of houses. There is enough space to place solar panels. So towers can be powered by solar energy directly.
- Solar power is increasingly going to be monitored and managed through IoT. IoT is going to be huge play for operators. This may be good place for them to wet their feet - deploy and refine their offerings.
https://cio.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/internet-of-things/at-12-billion-iot-connections-to-surpass-non-iot-devices-in-2020/79319301
I think its Bharti Global that owns stake in one web not the listed Bharti Airtel
Yes, Bharti Global is a seprate promoter company…
Looks like advantage Airtel in both scenarios :
Disc : Invested.
Very intrsting analysis of Airtel. Sort of balanced view.
“Jio saw a massive investment of more than $20 billion” - Did this money go to Jio books or parent RIL.
https://www.bloombergquint.com/onweb/mtn-airtel-ordered-to-suspend-nigerian-sim-card-sales
Detailed discussion regarding upcoming Spectrum auction and expected price hike with Telecom expert Rajiv sharma. Best part is that he is giving the details from the perspective of Industry and not from the perspective of any company per se.
Not a good news from any angle. But sentiment against Jio in Punjab region may prove to be tactically beneficial to Airtel.