Bharti Airtel has denied reports suggesting that Amazon is in early stage talks to invest $2 billion in the telecom operator. Reuters reported on Thursday that Amazon was looking to acquire a 5% stake in the country’s third largest telecom player.
“It is clarified the Company routinely works with all digital and OTT players and has deep engagement with them to bring their products, content and services for our wide customer base. Beyond that, there is, at this stage, no such proposal in consideration,” Airtel said in a regulatory filing with the stock exchanges.
It also expressed concerns over media reports, saying that such speculative reporting while moving the stock price leads to unwarranted consequences and can result in reputational impact.
“We urge you to take adequate steps to deal with such practices which of late have become a regular pattern especially in the telecom sector,” the company added.
Amazon too, declined to comment on the Reuters report on Thursday saying it doesn’t comment on speculative information.
Bharti Airtel, which has over 30 crore subscribers in India, is the third-largest telecom player in the country, behind Vodafone Idea and Reliance Jio.
Airtel’s clarification comes even as its rival Jio Platforms closed the sixth deal raising a total of Rs 87,655.35 crore from leading global technology and growth investors including Facebook, Silver Lake, Vista Equity Partners, General Atlantic, KKR and Mubadala in less than six weeks.
There were also reports last week suggesting that Google was exploring a 5% stake its other rival, Vodafone Idea. These reports were denied by Vodafone Idea.
“Currently, there is no proposal as reported by the media that is being considered at the Board. We wish to reiterate and clarify the Company will comply with SEBI Listing Regulations and duly keep the stock exchanges informed of all the price sensitive information,” it said in a regulatory filing on May 29.