The Hindu Business Line : Orange buys GTL’s IT services biz

Deal sealed: Mr Manoj Tirodkar, CMD, GTL, and Ms Barbara Dalibard, Chief Executive Officer, Orange Business Services, at a press conference in Mumbai on Wednesday. —

Our Bureau

Mumbai, July 11 Orange Business Services, the business communications arm of France Telecom, has acquired the enterprise network services and managed services business of the Mumbai-based GTL in an all-cash deal.

Though both GTL and Orange were tight lipped on the valuation of the deal, sources have indicated that France Telecom would be paying about Rs 200 crore for the sale.

With this buy, France Telecom has re-entered the Indian telecom market. Orange had exited from India in 2003 after selling its 26 per cent stake in BPL Mobile.

“Hiving of the IT services business is part of the ongoing restructuring programme through which the company wants to focus solely on network services and intends to add capabilities across the entire spectrum of the network life cycle of telecom operators and technology providers,” Mr Manoj Tirodkar, CMD, GTL Ltd, said at a news conference.

The IT-enabled business of GTL was put on the block last fiscal. GTL’s network services business is expected to bring in Rs 1,500 crore revenues this fiscal. GTL is also planning to sell off its Business Process Outsourcing unit keeping in line with this focus.

For Orange, the acquisition will enable access to a blue chip customer base and relationships with leading technology providers to address enterprise networks space in India, said Ms Barbara Dalibard, CEO, Orange business services. “The investment strengthens significantly our presence in network related services, and in the Asia-pacific region, which are the two major areas of growth in our global business strategy,” she said.

The GTL stock was down by 1.02 per cent on the BSE on Wednesday to close at Rs 228.3.

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