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After they’ve missed the opportunity to acquire TeliaSonera, France Telecom is looking elsewhere for growth. Since it keeps growing like crazy, India is logical choice and it’s right there where the French company wants to put its money.
Apparently, they are in talks with Malaysia’s Maxis which owns 74% of India’s Aircel. The idea is to pay anywhere between $1.4 and $2 billion to get a stake in India’s operator. According to The Economic Times, with its 19.6 million users and operations in 13 of India’s 22 service areas, Aircel is worth $7-$8 billion.
For the record, Aircel has recently outlined a $5 billion expansion program over the next three years, and I guess here’s the opportunity France Telecom is eyeing.
In the meantime, Maxis shareholder, Saudi Telecom is also looking to increase its holding in the firm from 25% to 35%.
We’ll see where this goes…
[Via: CellularNews]
About The Author
Dusan Belic
Dusan has been using smartphones since their introduction and is now following the latest trends in the industry. The "convergence" is what he's most excited about, and writing about it is the next logical thing to do. He thinks that using a smartphone is what everyone who cares about their time should do. In addition to his interests in mobile phones, Dusan also loves to experiment with the latest web and mobile 2.0 services. The idea of accessing and managing your information from any device no matter where you are simply amazes him. Whether it's an online to-do list, note taking service or a video sharing social network, he's there to try it out. He admits though, he's still searching for the ultimate web-based organizational tool, which "sings" perfectly with the mobile PIM application. Dusan used to run SymbianWatch.com which later became part of IntoMobile. He lives in Serbia, South-East Europe, from where he edits the site on a daily basis.
