Bharti ties up with Softbank, Mittal's son to head JV

Bharti Enterprises has struck a joint venture with Japanese internet firm Softbank Corp to offer mobile internet services in India. The two partners will have equal stake in the joint venture called Bharti Softbank Holdings Pvt Ltd (BSB). This joint venture marks the formal debut of Kavin Mittal - Bharti founder Sunil Mittal's son - in the family business. Here's a report.

25-year old Kavin is one of the twin sons born to telecom billionnaire Sunil Mittal. An engineer from London's Imperial College, Kavin turned entrepreneur at 20 with a mobile application start-up called Appspark. Now the junior Mittal will head strategy and new product development at Bharti Softbank Holdings. This marks Kavin's formal induction into a leadership role at a group firm. Last year Mittal's other son Shravin, joined Bharti Airtel's international operations at africa.
Kavin Bharti Mittal said, "India, which has emerged the second largest mobile market in the world, stands at the cusp of another revolution - mobile internet. We are delighted to partner with SoftBank, whose vast experience in this area will help us build and invest in services for India."
With more than 850 million mobile connections, India is the world's second-biggest market for telecom services. Singapore based Bharti Softbank Holdings expects that almost 500 million users will use mobile internet services in about 4-5 years.
The financial details of the JV between Bharti Enterprises and Softbank Corp have not been disclosed. The JV is already operational and will work with all of the mobile service providers in India including Airtel. Incidentally, Sunil Mittal joined the board of Softbank earlier this year. Also watch the accompanying video.