After its proposed sale to Hutch Essar for the Mumbai circle was called off, BPL Mobile Communications (BMCL) has submitted an application with the government seeking licences to operate across India.
Seeking mobile licences in 21 circles across the country apart from the Mumbai license, where the company is currently operating, BMCL said expansion into new circles would meet the growth objective.
The company presently offers GSM services in Mumbai and has 1.1 million subscribers.
“We have a sizable presence in Mumbai, but need to have a strategic roadmap for growth, and need a larger footprint to derive scale economics and cost synergies in this highly competitive market. Expansion into new circles would meet both these objectives, BMCL CEO & Director Subramaniam said.
Last year Hutchison Essar had acquired BMCL’s lincenses to operate in three out of the latter’s four circles which included Maharashrta, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
However, its acquisition of the Mumbai circle was called off as that needed the Department of Telecom’s approval because both Hutch and BPL are operating in this circle, which called for additional clearances.
While Hutch failed to get the government approval on time and subsequent deadline extensions did not yield any result, Essar group terminated the proposed sale of BPL Mobile to Hutchison-Essar.
The matter is now under arbitration.
In the recent months, it is not just BPL Mobile, but a host of other companies like Parsavnath Developers, Swan Telecom, Datacom Solutions, S Tel, Idea Cellular, Cheetah Corporate Services, Bycell Telecom, Spice Communications, HFCL Infotel have sought Unified Access licenses.