One of India's largest telecommunications operators, the Essar Telecom Business Group, has enhanced its presence on the African continent by agreeing to buy a stake in Warid Telecom's Africa operations. This means that Essar is ahead of Indian rivals Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications in the world's fastest growing mobile telecommunications market.  Bharti and reliance have made unsuccessful attempts so far to enter the African mobile market -- they both have tried, but failed, to come to some sort of agreement with African giant Mobile Telephone Networks (MTN) of South Africa. The Essar Group, which is the holding company for Essar Telecom, has signed definitive agreements with the Dhabi Group, the owners of Warid Telecom, for an investment by Essar into the telecom assets of Warid Telecom in Uganda and the Republic of Congo.

Warid Telecom Uganda is a newcomer to the telecom market here but is gaining fast in terms of subscriber numbers. A press statement said the agreements were signed by Sheikh Nahyan Mabarak Al Nahayan on behalf of the Dhabi Group and Prashant Ruia, the group chief executive of the Essar Group. The enterprise valuation of the Uganda and Congo operations is collectively valued at US$318 million. According to the statement, the Essar Group has committed growth capital to both telecom operations to facilitate network expansion and marketing. Upon completion, the Essar Group will acquire a majority stake (51 percent) in both operations.

"This transaction with the Dhabi Group augments our successful launch of telecom services in Kenya under the brand 'yu' which was a stepping stone for Essar to expand its telecom footprint to the African continent," Ruia said.

Regarded as one of the fastest growing telecom operators in Kenya, Essar Telecom Kenya has over 600,000 subscribers and expects this number to grow significantly as it completes its rollout across Kenya. The Dhabi Group transaction is subject to regulatory approvals in Uganda and Republic of Congo. In its home market, Essar holds a 33 percent interest in Vodafone Essar, a joint venture with the Vodafone Group, and is one of India's largest cellular service providers, with over 85 million subscribers.