Tata Communications extends recent rally

Tata Communications rose 2.24% to Rs 214.80 at 9:21 IST on BSE, with the stock extending recent gains triggered by the announcement regarding a potential acquisition of 100% of the shares of Neotel by Vodacom SA.

Tata Communications has a strategic investment in Neotel.

Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 8.79 points or 0.04% at 19,893.28.

On BSE, 3,178 shares were traded in the counter as against average daily volume of 97,000 shares in the past two weeks.

The stock hit a high of Rs 215.35 and a low of Rs 212 so far during the day.

Shares of Tata Communications have rallied 14.19% in three trading sessions from a recent low of Rs 188.10 on Monday, 30 September 2013, after the company after market hours on Monday, 30 September 2013, said that Vodacom and the shareholders of Neotel have announced that they have entered into exclusive discussions regarding a potential acquisition of 100% of the shares of Neotel by Vodacom SA.

Vodacom and Neotel said that the finalisation of the transaction is subject to the successful conclusion of commercial negotiations and receiving the requisite regulatory and corporate approvals. This transaction, if concluded, would stimulate greater competition in the South African fixed telecommunications sector and will accelerate the provision of high speed data links. It would also result in the combined entity being able to offer an expanded product range and, as a consequence, enhanced customer choice, a joint statement from the two companies said.

Vodacom is an African mobile communications company providing voice, messaging, data and converged services to around 50 million active customers, Vodacom is majority owned by Vodafone, one of the world's largest mobile communications companies by revenue. Vodacom is listed on the JSE and its head office is in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Neotel is South Africa's first converged communications network operator. It provides a range of value-added voice, internet and data services for businesses, wholesale network operators and providers and retail customers using its IP Next Generation Network, powered by Neotel's high-performance fibre optic backbone. Neotel connects the major centres in South Africa to each other and to the world, directly linking its infrastructure into Tata Communications' global Tier 1 network.

Separately, Tata Communications before market hours on Tuesday, 1 October 2013, announced an agreement with Arkadin, one of the world's largest and fastest growing collaboration service providers. Arkadin has become an official APAC provider of Tata Communications' recently launched jamvee conferencing -0 an on-demand unified communication service which enables, for the first time, anyone, anywhere, to instantly access a business video meeting on any device. The partnership agreement with Arkadin will first roll-out in Australia and New Zealand followed by the rest of the Asia Pacific region, Tata Communications said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Tata Communications announced on Wednesday, 2 October 2013, that it has launched its mobile messaging exchange service. The exchange will enable over-the-top (OTT) providers and SMS aggregators to connect to a large community of MNOs globally, while allowing MNOs to monetise the SMS traffic with an added layer of security. This service provides a mutually favourable and profitable solution for all the stakeholders in the value chain, the company said in a statement.

Tata Communications reported consolidated net profit of Rs 94.52 crore in Q1 June 2013, as against net loss of Rs 142.86 crore in Q1 June 2012. Net sales rose 9.5% to Rs 4497.98 crore in Q1 June 2013 over Q1 June 2012.

Tata Communications, along with its subsidiaries is a leading global provider of a new world of communications.

Powered by Capital Market - Live News