Brightstar, a global wireless distributor, has acquired a majority equity stake in Beetel Teletech from Bharti Enterprises.
Bharti Enterprises, which owns stake in telecom operator Bharti Airtel, did not share financial details and reasons for selling majority stake in the distribution and sale of communication and media devices business.
Timely divestment for Bharti
Beetel, founded in 1985, has more than 500 distributors and partners, 10,000 retailers and 28 warehouses.
Beetel could not compete with distributors such as HCL Infosystems that has more than 1,00,000 retail outlets, 800 direct and micro-distributors and over 400 channel partners across 15,000 towns and 664 districts in India.
This apart, Beetel is facing challenges due to the emergence of e-commerce channels such as Flipkart, amazon, eBay, etc.
Despite the support of the Airtel, the #1 telecom operator, and other group companies, Beetel could not generate substantial revenue in India.
Beetel also exports its products to more than 30 countries across the globe. This apart, it manufactures fixed line telephone for Airtel, BSNL and MTNL. Incidentally, fixed phones have lost its sheen in India due to the onslaught of smartphones and feature phones.
Bharti Enterprises does not talk about its future plans related to its manufacturing of fixed line phones.
Beetel today said it will retain its name and all the existing employees and continue operating from its headquarters in Gurgaon, India.
The company tried to revive the business by launching tablets as well.
Brightstar plans
Through the acquisition, Brightstar is looking at distributing new mobile devices and accessories from manufacturers via Beetel’s distribution platform across India.
Brightstar is trying to tap opportunities evolving from data demands driven by 3G and 4G technologies. It will focus on the smartphone market that recorded triple-digit growth in 2013. Both 3G and 4G are in developing stage in India.
Rakesh Bharti Mittal, vice chairman, Bharti Enterprises, said: “The new mobile businesses and related technologies that Brightstar is bringing to Beetel will help drive significant growth by leveraging our deep distribution strength.”
Beetel distributes and markets a range of technology brands such as Samsung, Panasonic, Polycom, Avaya, AMX, Extron, RADWIN, Huawei and SanDisk.
“India represents a tremendous growth opportunity for both devices and attached services as consumers continue to upgrade from feature to smartphones in record numbers,” said Marcelo Claure, founder and CEO of Brightstar Corp.
Growing HCL Infosystems
Recently, Lenovo India and HCL Infosystems announced their alliance that would strengthen Lenovo’s consumer retail and commercial business by leveraging HCL Infosystems’ sales, distribution and after-sales support network.
HCL Infosystems will sell and support Lenovo’s portfolio of PCs and Tablets, as well as enhance their existing cooperation in the distribution of tablets.
HCL Infosystems boasts of a network of 7000+ direct field engineers, a support base of 3mn+ assets at 70,000+ sites, an integrated customer contact centre, 35 IT-enabled depots and 21 regional logistics centers.
Baburajan K
[email protected]
