Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Monday, Apr 14, 2008
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Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Monday, Apr 14, 2008 ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version |
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Telecommunications Info-Tech - Mergers & Acquisitions Web Extras - Outlook Sistema eyes more buys in India
Thomas K. Thomas Moscow, April 13 Russian conglomerate JFC Sistema is looking to acquire another mobile operator in India in a bid to expand its operations quickly. The company had earlier picked up 51 per cent stake in the Rajeev Mehrotra-promoted Shyam Telelink for about $50 million. Sistema will raise its stake in Shyam to 74 per cent over the next few months. Speaking during a media visit in Moscow, sponsored by the Sistema Group, Mr Anton Abugov, First Vice-President, Head of Strategy and Development, said, “India is focus market for us and we are looking at growing our presence in the telecom space by acquiring an existing operator. We are already talking to some of the players.” Asked whether the acquisition will be for GSM or CDMA services, Mr Abugov said that technology will not matter in the long run as all operators start rolling out third generation mobile services. “While we have got spectrum for starting CDMA services, going forward 3G technologies are converging; so there it does not matter whether we acquire another company in GSM or CDMA,” Mr Abugov said. Sistema has announced $5 billion investment over the next 10 years to roll out the CDMA-based services through Shyam Telelink. The company is aiming at 60 million subscribers by 2017. “We are hoping to get eight per cent of the new subscriber additions every month,” said Mr Abugov. Shyam Telelink has received spectrum in 13 circles and is planning to roll out services by the end of the year. Sistema said that issues related to branding were being discussed.
Boston Consulting Group has been roped in to evaluate the possibility of introducing the Rainbow brand, which is being currently used by Shyam in Rajasthan for its telephone services, on a pan-Indian level. While Sistema currently offers mobile services in Russia and other CIS countries under two brand names - MTS for GSM and Sky Link for CDMA - the company could also introduce a new brand specifically for the Indian market. In a bid to offer a complete mobile solution, Sistema is also planning to bring in its range of mobile handsets under the Sitronics brand. Sitronics has partnered ZTE for manufacturing a range of handsets. Apart from telecoms, Sistema Group is also foraying into Indian real estate, retail, pharmaceutical, tourism and banking segments at various levels. The company has earmarked close to $5.5 billion for India-specific investments. Russia’s Sistema opts for CDMA spectrum DoT allocates CDMA spectrum to Sistema More Stories on : Telecommunications | Mergers & Acquisitions | Outlook
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