Nigerian telecom firm to enter India

RelTel, a Nigeria-based telecom company, is looking to raise funds and find a strategic partner from India. The company has appointed the Mumbai-based investment banking firm Strategic Capital Ventures Ltd as its exclusive financial advisor.

RelTel hopes to raise about $120 million from the Indian markets and tie up with an Indian telecom operator with expertise in large scale expansion projects.

Sunil Pathak, director, RelTel, said that the funds will be utilised for expansion and will be a combination of debt and equity, adding that the company is willing to sell its controlling stake if all other criteria fall in place.

Pathak said, "The similarities between Indian and Nigerian telecom services have prompted us to come to India as the expertise here can be very well utilised to shore up operations in a small but growing Nigerian market."

He said talks are on with some big telecom players in India but declined to disclose names.

Pathak said that Nigeria offers one of the largest and fast growing telecom opportunities in the world, driven in part by the current low penetration and high government commitment.

Pankaj Shah, managing director, SCVL, said, "India is fast developing into a force to reckon with in the telecom arena. This expertise can now be leveraged not only within the country but also elsewhere in the world."

He added that they expect the fund raising exercise to be completed within two months as the initial response has been good.

RelTel officials said that the company has about 80,000 subscribers in the code division multiple access market and is in the process to expand its capacity to about 1.4 lakh lines by the end of this year. Pathak added that RelTel has an average revenue per user of about $54 per month.