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Sistema’s systematic success in India |
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Wednesday, 16 January 2008 |
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New national licensee in India…
A group led by Russia’s giant Sistema yesterday acquired fixed and mobile licences in 21 Indian telecom ‘circles’ through its Shyam Telelink JV subsidiary. Together with its existing licence covering Rajasthan, this gives the company a nationwide footprint in India.
Sistema acquired 10% of Shyam Telelink last September and has an agreement in place to raise its stake to 51%. Sistema is set to put up US$520mn of the total US$630mn that the licences will cost.
"Shyam Telelink [has] met our expectations and received telecommunication licenses covering the whole of India”, said Alexander Goncharuk, President and CEO of Sistema. “We consider India as one of the most attractive markets with a high growth potential. Our plans, as a strategic investor, include building national telecommunication network and providing our Indian customers with modern telecommunication services."
Telecom revenues for the banking-to-retail conglomerate reached nearly US$7.5bn in 2006. Among Sistema’s core telecom assets in Russia and the CIS are cellular leader Mobile TeleSystems (MTS), Moscow-based broadband operator MGTS and long-distance network operator MTT.
Jim Chalmers
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