New Delhi: Telecom czar Sunil Mittal has said that Bharti Airtel’s proposed $23 billion transaction with South African telecom major MTN is a “well thought out” deal.

The planned deal with MTN is expected to create an entity with more than 200 million subscribers.

“MTN is a well thought out deal and has been in the works in some sense for a long time,” Bharti enterprises chairman and Group CEO Sunil Mittal, said in an interview to Forbes India magazine.

Bharti Airtel is part of the diversified group Bharti Enterprises.

“We need to expand our horizons and go out of India. That is what we have been trying over the last couple of years... The focus has to be on Africa, the Middle East and some other developing markets,” Mittal said.

Both Bharti Airtel and MTN are in exclusive discussions till 31 July for a potential deal estimated to be worth about $23 billion.

The proposal, if it works out, would result in Bharti Airtel getting a 49% stake in MTN while the South African telecom entity will get a 36% “economic interest” in Bharti Airtel.

Last year, the two entities were in discussions for a transaction which did not materialise.