Swan Telecom, which received licences for 13 telecom circles has reportedly finalised a deal to offload 51% equity stake to the Saudi Arabia-based telecom giant, Etisalat for close to $1.25 billion. In a similar development, the country’s second largest real estate giant, Unitech has also reportedly sealed a deal to offload 26% stake in its telecom arm to Norway-based telecom major, Telenor for around $500 million.
Though the companies could not be contacted, sources said the deal will be announced shortly. The stake sale has been on cards for most companies that got telecom licences recently, as analysts say the companies would need experienced partners to compete with dominant players like Bharti, RComm and Vodafone.
As reported by FE , despite government nod, rolling out 3G services wasn’t turning out to be a viable option for foreign telcos as picking-up stake in an already existing operator was more attractive.
Mumbai based, Dynamix Balwas group of companies owns a majority stake in Swan Telecom through two levels of holdings. The company earlier this year got licences to operate in 13 out of the 22 telecom services in the country. The company also received GSM spectrum in five circles. It has received spectrum in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Orissa. Earlier, Reliance Communication Ltd had a significant stake in Swan telecom, which it later sold out.
According to sources, realty giant Unitech had earlier negotiated with a string of international telecom operators including Zain and Etisalat and finally settled the deal with Norway-based Telenor.