Telenor may pick up 26% stake in Unitech Wireless for $500m; DoCoMo eyes Minority Stake in Tata Teleservices
It has now become almost certain that India is fast becoming the top destination for global telecom firms to strategically expand their businesses. With all the activity surrounding the launch of 3G services for the 300 million (almost) subscribers in the country, international telecom companies are finding out that it would be wise to invest here.
A while back, we wrote about Norwegian telecom firm, Telenor, who was planning to foray into the Indian Mobile Industry. Today, the Economic Times reports that the company is eyes to pick up a 26% stake in Unitech Wireless, the telecom sister of real estate major, Unitech. This, apparently, is going to cost $500 million to Telenor. Unitech Wireless has acquired licenses to operate in all 22 telecom circles in the country and have already received spectrum for six of them.
However, Sanjay Chandra, the MD of Unitech, denied that a partner was finalized by his firm. According to him, they were still negotiating with various parties and it would not until a month from now that the deal would be closed.
As per Industry Sources, Unitech has been in talks with several foreign telcos for a partnership since the beginning of the year. While the firm has been valued currently at $2bn, the promoters are hoping for a valuation of at least $3bn.
On the other hand, Japan’s NTT DoCoMo seems to have come into the news lately as news has broken out about its lead to buy a minority stake in Tata Teleservices. The stake in the country’s sixth largest telecom operator is going to cost Rs. 5,000 crore, according to ET. Although the talks are in the final stages, the exact stake which the company will pick up is not known yet.
There were reports in the media that France Telecom too was eyeing the stake, but the operator has denied these claims.
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