Airtel Bangladesh

Airtel (এয়ারটেল) is a telecom brand currently managed by Robi Axiata Ltd. in Bangladesh and was managed by Bharti Airtel (Airtel Bangladesh Ltd) until November 2016. In November 2016, Airtel merged its operations into Robi Axiata Ltd. Following the merger, Airtel remained as a product brand of Robi Axiata Ltd in Bangladesh. Since then, Robi Axiata is the brand licensing holder for Airtel brand in Bangladesh.

History
In December 2005, Warid Telecom International LLC, an Abu Dhabi based consortium, paid US$50 million to obtain a GSM license from the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC). In doing so, Warid Telecom became the sixth mobile phone operator in Bangladesh.

Takeover by Bharti Airtel
In 2010, Warid Telecom sold a majority 70% stake in the company to India's Bharti Airtel for US$300 million. Bharti's proposal also included an initial $300 million investment in Warid to create new shares in the company. The BTRC approved the deal on 4 Jan 2010. Bharti Airtel Limited took control of the company and its board and re-branded the company's services under its 'Airtel' brand starting on 20 December 2010.

In March 2013, Warid Telecom sold its remaining 30% share to Bharti Airtel's Singapore-based concern Bharti Airtel Holdings Pte Limited for US$85 million.

On 8 September 2013, Airtel Bangladesh licensed 5 MHz of the 3G spectrum for US$1.25 million.

Merger with Robi Axiata
In January 2016, Robi and Airtel Bangladesh announced that they intended to merge their Bangladesh operations. The combined entity, called Robi, would serve about 32 million subscribers. Axiata Group was to own 68.7% of the shares, Bharti Enterprises was to own 25.0%, while the remaining 6.3% would be owned by NTT DoCoMo. The merger was completed in November 2016.

Departs of NTT DoCoMo
In June 2020, Japanese telecom company NTT DoCoMo left Bangladesh by selling its entire stakes in Robi Axiata Ltd to Bharti Airtel. Which has been with Robi from 2008 by acquiring 30 percent stake in that company. At the time of departure, it had only 6.31 percent shares and completely empty handed despite investing $350 million in the country.