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New Delhi, Sep 24: International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank on Tuesday announced a loan of $100 million to AV Birla group’s Idea Cellular for rolling out its network in Bihar as well as establishing Idea’s long distance network.
Idea has been awarded an NLD/ILD licence. This is the first time that the World Bank is funding a telecom project in the country. Mohsen A Khalil, IFC director for global information and communication technologies, said, “Improving communications infrastructure creates businesses in India particularly in underserved areas such as Bihar.” He added, “Also, this is expected to help increase telephone penetration in Bihar from less than 8% in 2008 to more than 20% by 2012.”
Idea Cellular’s stocks eased out by 1.83% and closed at Rs 80.35 on the Bombay Stock Exchange on Wednesday.
The company has licences to operate in all 22-service areas of India, with commercial operations in 12 service areas and a customer base of over 29 million and is soon going to launch services in Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, and Tamil Nadu. “IFC’s investment will provide long-term funding that many companies in India find difficult to access, while helping expand the local telecommunications infrastructure,” said Sanjeev Aga, MD, Idea Cellular.
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