Feb. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Bharti Airtel Ltd. is offering $10.7 billion for most of the African assets of Kuwait’s Zain, said two people familiar with the matter, underscoring the push to buy emerging markets phone assets.

India’s largest wireless operator, based in New Delhi, may begin due diligence on the deal as soon as today and has exclusivity until the end of March, one of the people said. The board of Kuwait’s Mobile Telecommunications Co., or Zain, accepted the Bharti offer, according to the people who declined to be identified since the decision is not public.

The offer marks Bharti’s third attempt to enter Africa and would create one of the biggest emerging markets phone operators. Bharti, led by billionaire chairman Sunil Mittal, faces intense price competition at home that has driven call rates for many of its 121 million Indian subscribers to lower than a penny a minute.