Shyam Telecom Mulls 49% Selloff In New Entity

According to company officials, global telecom major Qualcomm is in advanced stages of negotiations to pick up a 3.5 per ent stake in the consolidated company for $5 million. The company is also in parleys with large funds and equity investors to invest in the company, said Alok Tandon, managing director, STL.

STL claims that it commands almost 90 per cent of the market share in the cellular market in Rajasthan.

"We will offer an investor up to 26 per cent stake in the company and are open to other offers for a minority stake," Tandon said.

Foreign investment in the telecom sector has been capped by the government at 49 per cent.

 

STL is currently consolidating its holding in all its manufacturing and services companies through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Shyam International.

After consolidation, the Shyam Group will comprise Shyam Telecom, the flagship company, and Shyam International, its holding company. The integrated Shyam Telecom will have a presence in both the manufacturing and services segments of the telecommunications business.

STL, however, has not evinced any interest in the long distance telephony market. "Currently, 40 per cent of the long distance telephone traffic in the country is between Delhi and Mumbai. Since a large part of this traffic would flow through Rajasthan, we'd rather share revenues with other long distance operators by offering them our fibre optic network," he said.

Shyam Telecom has 400 kilometres of optic fibre network installed in and around Jaipur. It will be laying up to 5000 kms of optic fibre over the next few years.

Optimising on its network, Shyam Telecom is currently offering free Internet services to its basic telephony subscribers in Rajasthan. The company, which has a category A Internet Service Provider license, is also planning to set up international gateways at various locations in the country, Tandon said.