Sunil ''Bharti'' Mittal must be relieved man, now that Arun ''Vodafone'' Sarin has decided not to bid for South Africa's telecommunications operator MTN, in which Bharti is already angling for a majority stake.

A rival bid by Vodafone, even if unsuccessful in acquiring MTN, would certainly have driven up the price Bharti would have to pay for its stake.

Vodafone spokesman Simon Gordon categorically denied his company's intention to pursue a bid for MTN, and reiterated their interest in increasing their current stake in rival operator Vodacom.

Vodafone's interest in MTN was not perfunctory. The UK-based Sunday Times had yesterday reported that  Sarin had instructed his in-house acquisition team, led by former UBS banker Warren Finegold, to examine options to buy the company, before deciding otherwise.

MTN would have been Sarin's biggest acquisition, enhancing Vodafone's exposure to emerging markets, and would have enabled the world's most profitable telecom firm to bypass acquiring a majority stake in Vodacom, its equal joint venture with the South African government owned Telekom, to gain a foothold in Africa.

Sarin has so far been unable to persuade Telekom to allow Vodafone to raise its 50-per cent stake to 85 per cent for £3.5 billion.

A successful bid for the entire company would have cost Vodafone at least $39 million.

Bharti is said to have offered around $20 billion for a 51-per cent stake in the company, and Mittal has had fruitful talks with the MTN management on his recent visit to London. He has even garnered the support of a major shareholder for his bid.1 (See: Bharti closer to $20-billion MTN deal as major shareholder Mikati expresses confidence)

Vodafone is already a major player in South Africa with its 50 per cent stake in Vodacom, South Africa's largest mobile-phone company, in which Telkom South Africa Ltd. owns the other half. Besides South Africa, Vodacom has assets in Tanzania, the Republic of Congo and Mozambique.

Vodacom is the leading cellular network in South Africa with an estimated market share of 58 per cent and more than 23 million customers. However, MTN, with its larger pan-African network and presence in certain Middle East countries, is a much bigger company.

Vodafone had hoped to strike a deal with its South African joint-venture partner Telkom to lift its 50 per cent stake in Vodacom to 85 per cent for £3.5 billion by the end of last year.

However, Telkom, which is partly owned by the South African government, halted talks in November after it could not agree a price for a parallel deal to sell some of its fixed-line assets to MTN. Since that time, Vodafone has reiterated its interest in increasing its stake in Vodacom.