SingTel boosts stake in Bharti Airtel to 31.95 pct

SINGAPORE, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Singapore Telecommunications (STEL.SI: Quote, Profile, Research) has agreed to increase its effective stake in India's mobile phone operator Bharti Airtel (BRTI.BO: Quote, Profile, Research) to 31.95 percent from 30.43 percent, the company said.

SingTel has entered into a conditional agreement with Bharti Group to purchase an additional 730,000 shares in Bharti Telecom, which is the sponsor of the listed entity Bharti Airtel, the Singapore firm said in a statement late on Friday.

SingTel will make an estimated payment of between 18,073 million Indian rupees to 30,084 million Indian rupees ($641.3 million) for the purchase of additional shares of Bharti Telecom, the statement said.

The price difference is because the payment schedule is spread over more than a year after the agreement kicks in on Nov. 12.

Bharti Telecom has a stake of around 45.3 percent in Bharti Airtel.

On Friday Bharti Airtel gave a downbeat outlook due to a price war after posting its slowest pace of profit growth in at least six years, sending its shares down nearly 7 percent. [ID:nDEL300502]

(Reporting by Saeed Azhar, Editing by Dean Yates)