Airtel’s decision to sell its African biz receives a thumbs-up from Dalal Street

Bharti Airtel Ltd., India's largest mobile services provider, surged more than 4 percent on news that it was in talks with global rival Orange to offload some of its assets in Africa in a deal estimated at $1 billion.

The Economic Times reported Sunil Mittal's Bharti is negotiating a sale of its mobile operations in Bukrina Fasso, Chad, Congo, Sierra Leone and Brazzaville in Africa to Orange. Most analysts believe that Bharti's African purchase of Zain's operations have dragged the overall performance of the world's third largest telecom company.

An inflow of cash will help Bharti pay off a part of outstanding debt and also reduce loss-making operations.

Bharti rose 4 percent, or 17 rupees, to 446.30 on the National Stock Exchange, where it was the second biggest gainer on the Nifty. More than 20.3 lakh shares were traded on Bharti's counter in the first one hour of trade compared with a 5-day average of 21.6 lakh shares.

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