A day after it sealed a $10.7 billion deal to acquire the African assets of Kuwait's Zain, the shares of India's top telecom company Bharti Airtel opened strong on bourses here Wednesday.

The bluechip, among the 30 scrips that are part of the sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange, opened at Rs. 312.10 and soon moved up to Rs. 316.50, against the previous close at Rs. 310.95.

The scrip was up by 1.33 percent at Rs. 315.10, some 10 minutes into trading.

The legally binding definitive agreement between the two groups was signed at Amsterdam late Tuesday.

Chairman Sunil Mittal said in a statement, "This agreement is a landmark for the global telecom industry and a game changer for Bharti. More importantly, this transaction is a pioneering step towards South-South cooperation and strengthening of ties between India and Africa."

Bharti Airtel is among Asia's leading telecom service providers with operations in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. As on Jan 31, it had the largest market share of 23.33 percent in India's mobile telephony segment with 121.71 million subscribers. (With Inputs from Agencies)