India's Bharti Airtel has neither confirmed or denied reports that the company is considering selling its mobile operations in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
Airtel gave only a non-committal reply in response to a Bombay Stock Exchange query seeking clarification on reports that the company is pursuing a sale of its operations in the markets.
“Bharti Airtel Limited keeps evaluating various opportunities, on an ongoing basis in ordinary course of business and will make necessary disclosure as and when required,” the terse statement reads.
CNBCreported late last week that Airtel has revived a plan to sell its Bangladeshi and Sri Lankan units as part of plans tor reduce debt and exit low-margin businesses, after first trying and failing to sell the assets in 2012.
Citing sources, the report states that Etisalat and Orange are among the international operators interested in purchasing the assets.
It adds that Airtel will separately seek to sell its 2,500 towers in Sri Lanka and 4,000 towers in Bangladesh, which would be in line with its efforts to sell off its towers in Africa.