Reuters on Thursday reported, citing people familiar with the matter, that Amazon was in talks with Airtel [to buy a $2b stake]…Through a note released to National Stock Exchange (NSE) and Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the telecom operator said that “no such proposal in consideration” at this stage and it is just “speculative reporting” that came out “despite appropriate timely clarifications” by both companies.
Ankit Malhotra's key takeaways:
- This continues the trend of misreporting around FANG interest in India’s telcos.
- There would be limited strategic advantage for an OTT player to partner with a telco, although some benefit could be assumed in terms of potential marketing tie-ups.
- Amazon already has a content partnership with Airtel, with all post-paid users getting a free Amazon Prime subscription.