India's Bharti Enterprises said it would acquire a 24.5% stake in BT (BT.L), opens new tab, worth 3.2 billion pounds ($4 billion), to buy out the British company's top investor Patrick Drahi as his Altice group speeds up asset sales to cut its debt burden.

The move by Bharti's billionaire founder, Sunil Bharti Mittal, makes one of India's biggest conglomerates a key strategic shareholder in BT, whose new CEO Allison Kirkby is striving to revive shares by promising higher profits after years of cost-cuttings.

Bharti Airtel brand operating in 17 countries across South Asia and Africa, said it had no intention of buying all of BT, the former state monopoly which is Britain's biggest broadband and mobile company.