UK Government Will Block Any Move by India’s Bharti to Raise Stake in BT: Reports

The British government will oppose any attempt by India’s Sunil Bharti Mittal to increase Bharti Enterprises’ stake in telecom major BT Group, citing the need to retain sovereign control over critical national infrastructure, the Financial Times reported on Thursday, quoting sources familiar with the matter.

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UK Government Draws Red Lines on BT Ownership

Last week, Reuters had reported that Bharti Enterprises was exploring the possibility of increasing its holding in BT to just below the threshold that would trigger a mandatory takeover offer for the British telecom group.

However, a Bharti spokesman had reportedly said the company is pleased with its current 24.95 percent shareholding and “currently has no plans to increase its stake.”

In September last year, Sunil Bharti Mittal, founder and chairman of Bharti Enterprises, along with Bharti Airtel vice-chairman and managing director Gopal Vittal, joined the BT board as non-independent non-executive directors.

Sunil Bharti Mittal’s Long-Term Ownership Vision

Speaking during the Q4 FY2026 earnings webinar for Bharti Airtel Limited and Bharti Hexacom Limited for the quarter ended March 31, 2026, Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman, Bharti Airtel Limited, was asked whether he preferred only Bharti Telecom to own Bharti Airtel Limited, or whether he saw an opportunity for Pastel and ICIL to hold an equal stake alongside Bharti Telecom.

He said:

“You know, basically the belief remains that we must have everything through one Company, that should be the controlling promoting shareholder – Bharti Telecom, as you know, historically, has, just, not only been the founding promoter of this Company, has had almost always, for a long period of time, a controlling shareholding of 51 percent. If you really ask me, my own wish is that in the next, it is hard to put in years on it, in the next decade as I, kind of, come to a point where I hand over the reins to the next generation as shareholders, Bharti Telecom should get back to controlling shareholding- 51 percent or just over 50 percent. So, that is 10 percent more to go and for a Company of this magnitude and size, you can imagine, that it is not a small task. So, the principal direction or vision of that I carry in my mind is all share, that we can, from both ICIL or Bharti family entities and Singtel should go into Bharti Telecom as much as possible. So, to put a bit more granular sort of angle to it, Singtel had a difference of about 7 percent or rather, has 7 percent direct stake in Airtel and it had about 6 percent to equalize, now with this transaction, once this is done and shares are issued, this gap comes down to 3.6 percent.”