British Vodafone frontrunner in Indian telecom deal : reports

Feb 11, 2007, 15:55 GMT

New Delhi - British telecoms giant Vodafone, has pipped three other companies to emerge as the top bidder for a majority stake in India's fourth largest mobile services provider Hutchison Essar, Indian media reported Sunday.

Hong Kong-based Hutchison Telecommunications International Ltd. (HTIL) on Friday received four bids, for its 67 per cent stake in Hutchison Essar Ltd., which holds 16 percent of the Indian cellular market.

HTIL at its board meeting on Sunday took a final decision on the takeover bids and Vodafone which had submitted the highest bids estimated at 19 billion dollars was the front-runner, the NDTV network reported quoting sources.

Officials of HTIL were not available to confirm the details.

India's Reliance Communications, the Hinduja Group which teamed with Qatar Telecom and Russia's Altimo and Indian conglomerate Essar, had submitted bids starting from 16 billion dollars.

The news channel reported that Essar which holds 33 per cent in the company, had said that it was willing to partner Vodafone, NDTV reported.

The IANS news agency reported that the HTIL would have to inform the stock markets before publicly announcing the decision.

Vodafone is keen for a stronger presence in India and is most likely to partner Essar, local news channels reported.

Though the bids have been submitted by the interested parties, a final decision on the deal, the largest-ever in India, could still be weeks away.

Hutchison Essar has a subscriber base of 23.3 million users and is considered a lucrative asset in India, one of the world's fastest growing markets for mobile telephony.

Following sweeping reforms by successive governments and the introduction of new technology, the total subscriber base jumped from 10 million in 2002 to 143.02 million by the end of November 2006.

The Indian government expects the number of users to touch 500 million by 2010.