Bharti Airtel, India's top mobile operator, is set to sign an agreement with the Abu Dhabi group for acquiring a 70 per cent controlling stake in Bangladesh’s fourth-biggest mobile phone operator Warid Telecom, according to industry sources.

The stake deal makes Bharti Airtel the first Indian telcom firm to make in-roads into Bangladesh mobile market, where several foreign players already operate, they said.

The Indian telecom giant later said it would invest $300 million in Warid Telecom, in which it would have board and management control.

Warid Telecom is a joint venture between Abu Dhabi Group, one of the largest UAE-based group of investors, and Singapore Telecom group. The Abu Dhabi Group is actively involved in investment activities in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Iran, Uganda, Republic of Congo and the Middle East.

The overall investment in Warid, including by Abu Dhabi Group that runs the company, would be $1 billion, Bharti said in a statement.-TradeArabia News Service