Bharti Infratel is India's leading provider of tower and related infrastructure and it deploys, owns and manages telecom towers and communication structures for various mobile operators. The company's consolidated portfolio of over 91,000 telecom towers, which includes over 39,000 of its own towers and the balance from its 42% equity interest in Indus Towers, makes it one of the largest tower infrastructure providers in the country with presence in all 22 telecom circles. The three leading wireless telecommunications service providers in India by revenue - Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular - are the largest customers of Bharti Infratel.Bharti Infratel was incorporated in 2006 as a subsidiary of Bharti Airtel, a leading global telecommunications company which currently has operations in 17 countries across Asia and Africa. Bharti Airtel and Bharti Infratel are a part of the Bharti group, one of India's leading business conglomerates, with business interests in the telecommunications, real estate, insurance and retail sectors. In January 2008, Bharti Airtel transferred its towers to Bharti Infratel through a scheme of arrangement effective as of January 31, 2008. As of 31 December 2017, Bharti Airtel directly held 50.33% of the equity share capital of Bharti Infratel. Nettle Infrastructure Investments Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Bharti Airtel, held 3.18% stake in Bharti Infratel as on 31 December 2017.Bharti Infratel has a 42% stake in Indus Towers which was created as a Joint Venture between Bharti Infratel, Vodafone and Aditya Birla Telecom to hive off the Towers business in 15 telecom circles. In 2011, the company won the Green Mobile Award' for best green product/service or performance at the Global Mobile Awards 2011. In 2012, the company was awarded the 2012-CNBC Essar Steel, Infrastructure Excellence Award as the 'Telecom Infrastructure Company of the year'. It also received the 2012 CIO-APC Green IT Award for successfully consolidating and virtualising its data centre and making significant reduction in carbon emissions.In 2013, Bharti Infratel and OMC Power bagged Best Consumer Service Innovation Award at Global Telecoms Business Innovation Awards. The company was also awarded the 'Most Innovative Energy Saving Product' for 'Renewable Energy Solutions for Telecom Tower Sites.In 2014, Reliance Jio and the company Joined Hands in Tower Infrastructure Sharing agreement. The company was also conferred with Amity Telecom Excellence Award' for being the Top Telecom Tower Company of the Year 2014'. The company has been conferred with Global Business Excellence Award-2014. The company and Indus Towers ink Infrastructure sharing deal.In 2015, the company approved increase in foreign investment limit upto 49% of the paid up capital under Portfolio Investment Scheme (PIS) by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIls)/ Registered Foreign Portfolio Investors (RFPIs). The company wins award for Best Employer' at the Aon Hewitt Best Employers 2015 Awards.On 26 February 2015, parent company Bharti Airtel offloaded 55 million shares of Bharti Infratel through a secondary share sale in the stock market for a total consideration of Rs 1925 crore. Post the transaction, Bharti Airtel's equity holding in Bharti Infratel was reduced to 71.9%.On 14 May 2015, Bharti Infratel announced that the company's stock has been included in MSCI Global Standard Index, an index created by Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) that serves as a benchmark of the performance in major international equity markets. The change in the index will be effective from the close of trading on 29 May 2015.The Board of Directors of Bharti Infratel at its meeting held on 26 April 2016 approved a proposal to buyback equity shares of the company from the shareholders of the company on a proportionate basis through a tender offer. The company set aside Rs. 2000 crore for the buyback at a maximum price of Rs. 450 per equity share. On 28 March 2017, parent company Bharti Airtel pared its stake in Bharti Infratel by selling over 190 million shares representing 10.3% stake to a consortium of funds advised by KKR and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) for a total consideration of over Rs. 6193.90 crore. The deal was executed at Rs 325 per Bharti Infratel share. Following the closure of this transaction, Bharti Airtel's equity holding in Bharti Infratel was reduced to 61.7%.The board of directors of Bharti Infratel at its meeting held on 30 October 2017 decided to explore and evaluate acquisition of stake in one or more tranches in Indus Towers, with the aim of making it a subsidiary or wholly owned subsidiary of Bharti Infratel.On 14 November 2017, parent firm Bharti Airtel via its wholly owned subsidiary Nettle Infrastructure Investments sold 83 million equity shares aggregating to 4.49% stake in Bharti Infratel through a secondary share sale in the stock market. Consequent to the stake sale, Bharti Airtel and Nettle together hold a combined 53.51% stake in Bharti Infratel.