File this under rumors, but the fact remains – India’s mobile market is destined for some serious consolidation. Two days ago we said that Uninor and Videocon have hard time competing in the country, and today we bring you the story involving UAE-based Etisalat and their apparent plans to grab a stake in Idea Cellular.
The latest story comes on the heels of an earlier rumor that said Etisalat may acquire a 25% stake in Reliance Communications.
“There are many options in India, and we are not excluding Idea Cellular,” Jamal Al-Jarwan, Etisalat’s CEO for international investments told Bloomberg News in a telephone interview. Idea Cellular, unsurprisingly, declined to comment.
Etisalat already owns 45% of Swan Telecom (now known as Etisalat DB), for which it paid $900 million. The company has licenses for 13 of the India’s 22 operating circles and has received radio spectrum in 10 of the circles…
So what will happen next? We’ve no idea, but if I was at Etisalat, I would consider merging the two companies to create an operator that more-easily competes with the market-leading Bharti Airtel. We’ll keep watching.
[Via: Bloomberg]