Vodafone is open to selling its 4.4 percent indirect stake in Bharti Airtel, India’s largest mobile operator by revenue, reports Dow Jones Newswires. “We are open to discussions concerning the Bharti shareholding if any potential buyers wished to engage with us,” noted a company representative. The stake is a legacy of a previous partnership between the companies that was in place prior to Vodafone’s acquisition of Bharti rival Essar in 2007. Earlier this year Bharti chairman Sunil Mittal played down talk that his company was about to buy out Vodafone’s stake.

Meanwhile the same Dow Jones Newswires report claims that Vodafone would consider listing its Indian unit, Vodafone Essar. According to Wireless Intelligence, Vodafone Essar is the country’s second-largest mobile operator by subscribers, with 83 million connections. In September it was reported that Vodafone increased its stake in Essar by a further 6 percent for INR8.62 billion (US$180 million).