Bharti time

While the credit crunch has sent a chill through swathes of the market, developing-world telecoms have lost none of their heat. Bharti Airtel, the Indian mobile telecoms operator, is reported to have made a bid for a majority stake in MTN Group, the number two in South Africa, that would value the company’s equity at $37bn. While MTN has some plum assets, rivals might do best to watch from the sidelines. There’s no doubt MTN, with its spread of market-leading positions in Africa and the Middle ...