Hutchison Essar, India’s fourth largest cell phone operator with over 21mn customers at the end of September, is the reported target of bids from a number of would-be new owners. Apparently included here – in alphabetic order - are the Carlyle Group, the Essar Group itself, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Maxis of Malaysia, Orascom of Egypt, Reliance Communications teamed with Blackstone Group, Texas Pacific Group and Vodafone.

The price tag for Hutchison Essar, which is majority-owned by Li Ka-shing’s Hong Kong-headquartered Hutchison Telecommunications International, is being put at a hefty US$14bn. You can see the attraction, though. According to official figures the Indian telecommunications sector overall is growing at something approaching 30% per annum, while the country’s cell phone market is believed to be the planet’s fastest growing. New figures from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had 6.8mn new wireless subscribers added during November, the highest recorded growth for a single calendar month. At the end of November, says the TRAI, India’s wireless subscriber population – GSM, CDMA and fixed wireless local loop – stood at 143.02mn.
John Williamson