Spice Tele to raise money for expansion

Spice Telecom is planning to extend its coverage in the two circles it already has a presence in with an investment of around $100 million per year. The company is also keen to expand beyond Punjab and Karnataka to six new circles and may soon go public.

MCorp Global President Dilip Modi said: "We are continuously looking at the option of raising additional funds. A public issue is a viable and real option. There is an opportunity for a lot of telecom service providers to be listed on the markets."

Modi, along with Telekom Malaysia group CEO Dato Abdul Wahid Omar, said the latter's 49 per cent acquisition in Spice Communications Pte Ltd, a flagship company of MCorp Global, has been completed with the exchange of final documents here today.

Telekom Malaysia paid $178.85 million for the acquisition. Modi added that funds for the much needed capacity expansion would start flowing in this fiscal and would continue for a couple of years.

Telekom Malaysia's Omar said the price the company paid for the 49 per cent stake in Spice "was reasonable".