The Hindu Business Line : ByCell may look for new Indian partner

New Delhi, Oct. 12 Russian firm ByCell may look for a new Indian partner for rolling out telecom services after it receives the licences from the Department of Telecommunications.

The company, which received letters of intent for telecom licences in five circles, has a 74:26 joint venture with the Hyderabad-based Bitcorp Pvt Ltd. ByCell is yet to receive the licences even after paying the entry fee to the Government eight months ago.

“A number of Indian companies have already approached us evincing interest in picking up equity stake in the company. We may have a new partner depending on the valuation we receive but will take a decision on this once we get the licences.

“Our focus right now is on rolling out the services at the earliest,” Mr Alexandre Louzine, Chief Executive Officer, ByCell Telecommunications India Pvt Ltd, told Business Line.

Deal with utility cos

Mr Louzine said the company has already inked memorandum of understanding with utility firms such as Railtel and Powergrid for rolling out telecom services in Orissa, West Bengal, Bihar, North East and Assam.

ByCell has also partnered NGOs in the region to reach out to the remote areas. “The biggest challenge in rural areas is the retail chain. Most of the existing players do not have any distribution network in the areas where we plan to roll out. We are partnering with local NGOs which are running common service centres to act as our retail agents,” Mr Louzine said.

However, the Russian company’s plans have been delayed as it has not received the licences despite having received the letters of intent in February. ByCell’s application had earlier run into rough weather after security agencies raised doubts over its identity.

The Foreign Investment Promotion Board had also questioned the source of investments by the Russian company. “We have given all documents and answered all questions raised by the Indian authorities. We have been given all the necessary clearances by FIPB and DoT but we do not know why the licences are not being issued to us. At a time when there is a liquidity crunch we have already invested money in the Indian venture. We are ready to invest more but for that we need the licence,” Mr Louzine said.

DoT officials said that signing of the licence agreement with ByCell is under process. “Telecom is a highly sensitive area as far as national security is concerned and we want to make sure that we know who is investing in this sector. The Government has no intentions to block any particular company but at the same time we have to make sure that the processes are followed,” said a senior DoT official.

When asked as to whether the company was contemplating to pull out of the Indian market if there is further delay in getting the licences Mr Luozine said that he hoped that such a decision would not be necessary.

Though ByCell was among the first to apply for licences, other companies such as Swan, STel, Datacom and Unitech have received the licences and spectrum in a few circles. One of the new companies Shyam-Sistema has already launched its services last month.

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