Four global telcos in race for Datacom

MUMBAI: The lure of having a strong foothold in the fastest growing telecom market in the world has drawn at least four global telecom majors-from three different continents-in race to buy an up to 51% sta ke in Datacom Solutions. The company, majority held by consumer electronics major Videocon, is one of the five new telecom majors that have regulatory nod to start telecom services in India.

Dubai-based Etisalat, Turkish telecom major Turkcell, and another unnamed European giant are competing with Mexican Tycoon Carlos Slim�s America Movil for a majority stake in Datacom, market sources said. All the four players in the race are pegging the valuation of the company at around $3 billion (around Rs 13,000 crore).

When contacted Datacom Solutions CEO Ravi Sharma confirmed that the company was talking to a host of prospective partners, but declined to give further details, including the names of the global players.. �Among other things like selecting the network partner, IT vendor and the creative agency for Datacom , we are also in discussion with various telecom players who could become our prospective partner,�� Sharma said.

While Slim�s America Movil, Turkcell and the other player are still very much in the race, talks with Etisalat could be heading for a deadend.

Etisalat was proposing to take a 51% stake in Datacom through the preferential offer route and infuse the money into the company. On the other hand, some of the existing shareholders wanted to exit. Additionally, Etisalat also wanted an exclusive negotiation clause for buying the majority stake in Datacom.

Since the parties could not agree to any of these arrangements , Etisalat might start looking at the other new telecom players, a merchant banking source said. As of now, while the Videocon group holds 64% stake in Datacom, Mahendra Nahata, earlier with Himachal Futuristic Communications (HFCL), holds 36% stake. Although Datacom was originally promoted by Nahata, later on he had sold the majority stake to the Dhoots of Videocon.

At present, the arrangement being discussed with Datacom�s prospective partners ensures continuity of the existing management with the new partner getting a large number of board seats.

 

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