Update: Bangladesh's telecom regulator today approved Bharti Airtel's plan to acquire 70 percent stake in telecom operator Warid Telecom. Reuters reports Airtel will invest an initial amount of $300 million for expanding Warid's network in Bangladesh. We are awaiting an official response from the company. Strangely enough, Airtel is still maintaining silence on the bid: "We have no comments to offer beyond our initial statement." For details of the Bangladesh Telecom market, and how Warid is placed, read on. Earlier Story (Dec 16): After its failed attempt at merging with South African operator MTN, India's largest cellular operator Bharti Airtel is scouting for international acquisitions. The Daily Star reports that Airtel has sought the approval of the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) to pick up 70 percent stake in Warid Telecom, owned by the Abu Dhabi group. The report quotes unnamed Warid executives who have valued the deal at $900 Million. Post signing the deal, Airtel also plans to invest an initial $300 million in the company. Warid is one of six operators in Bangladesh, a country with 51.4 million mobile subscribers as of October 2009. An auction of 3G spectrum in Bangladesh is scheduled for 2010. Note that Bharti has neither confirmed nor denied plans to buy Warid. When contacted, a Bharti spokesperson told MediaNama, "We keep evaluating international expansion opportunities from time to time. However, at this point, we do not have anything definite to share." The Wall Street Journal reports that Akhil Gupta, deputy group CEO and MD at Bharti Enterprises, said that "We have been interested…
