Zain Group

Bharti Airtel said it had tied up the entire financing requirement of $8,3-billion for its planned buy of Kuwaiti telecom Zain’s African assets.

Indian telecoms tycoon Sunil Bharti Mittal may be known for his Midas touch, but investors are questioning his bid to gain a foothold in Africa.

Bharti Airtel said $9-billion was not a high price for Kuwaiti telecom Zain’s African assets given the growth opportunities.

India’s Bharti Airtel launched its third attempt to gain a foothold in Africa, entering $10,7-billion talks to buy most of telecom Zain’s assets.

Zambia’s state telephone utility will spend about -million to lay a fibre-optic network and to lift its cellphone subscription to one million customers by June 2008, its managing…