Bharti rules BT waves: Why Sunil Mittal was on Patrick Drahi’s speed dial

One billionaire’s $60 billion debt woes opened a window of opportunity for another to dial in.

Telecom’s JLR moment stunned the corporate fraternity in India and Britain this week. In a turnaround of history, Sunil Mittal on Monday swooped in to buy a quarter of BT (formerly British Telecom) and become its single-largest shareholder. In the process, he reconnected with the telecom giant — a former monopoly player in Britain — close to three decades since it held a 21% stake in his Indian telecom operations, now the $100 bn colossus called Bharti Airtel.