Ready to sell stake, give away management control in Videocon Telecom: Dhoot

Gandhinagar: Videocon Telecom is willing to to sell 49 per cent stake and even ready to give away management control if the company gets “good offer”, Videocon Group co-promoter Rajkumar Dhoot said today ahead of spectrum auction next month.

The company, which had over 86 lakh telecom subscribers at the end of November 2014, has spectrum in seven circles, offers services only in Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Gujarat.

Talking about group telecom business at the Vibrant Gujarat Summit Dhoot said: “If we are given good offer, we can give away 49 per cent stake in our mobile operating business. We are also ready to give them management control. We are also keen to participate in upcoming spectrum auction for 4G LTE.”

The comment comes a few day after the group’s Punjab telecom arm, Quadrant Televentures, received permit to launch pan-India Internet services.

The government had recently allowed mergers between firms in the telecom sector with up to 50 per cent combined market share.

Before this, telecom firms were allowed to merge if their combined market shares in terms of subscriber base did not exceed 40 per cent in any of the nation’s 22 circles or zones.

At present, there are 12 telecom players in the country.

Videocon Telecom’s licences, except in Punjab were cancelled by Supreme Court in February 2012 and the company had bought fresh spectrum in auction in the same year.

Videocon Telecom had reported a jump of 60 per cent in its gross revenue at Rs 182 crore for the July-September quarter.

PTI