***********************************************************************
* G * O * A * N * E * T *** C * L * A * S * S * I * F * I * E * D * S *
***********************************************************************
T H I S S P A C E C A N B E Y O U R S
Advertise your Product(s) and Service(s) on Goanet
& S u p p o r t G o a n e t o p e r a t i o n s
F o r d e t a i l s c o n t a c t : [EMAIL PROTECTED]
***********************************************************************
From the BBC news
Kind Regards, GL
Vodafone buys Indian mobile firm. India's mobile market is expanding rapidly
Vodafone has bought a controlling stake in Indian mobile phone firm Hutchison
Essar for $11.1bn (£5.7bn). The deal for 67% of the company gives Vodafone
access to India's rapidly growing mobile phone market, where Essar has a share
of about 16%.
It ends a long bidding war for the Essar stake owned by Hong Kong's Hutchison
Telecommunications. UK firm Vodafone is moving into emerging economies to make
up for slow growth in mature markets like Europe. According to Vodafone, India
is the fastest growing mobile market in the world, with around 6.5 million new
subscribers every month. 'The world's most important mobile market'
Arun Sarin, the chief executive of Vodafone, said the announcement was "clear
evidence of how we are executing our strategy of developing our presence in
emerging markets". Vodafone's chairman, Sir John Bond, said India was
"destined to become one of the largest and most important mobile markets in the
world," and predicted the company would be "playing [its] part in delivering
the significant economic and social benefits which mobile telephony can bring
to the people of India". The deal values the Indian mobile phone firm - often
referred to as Hutch - at $18.8bn, about a billion dollar less than some
analysts had predicted.
Vodafone said it would also take on $2bn in net debt. The UK mobile phone
operator was bidding against Anil Ambani's Reliance Communications and the
Hinduja Group for the purchase of Hutch. Essar Group, which owns the remaining
33% of the company, had reportedly tried to take full control of Hutchison
Essar as well. Vodafone said it would offer Essar Group to buy this stake "at
the equivalent price per share it has agreed with [Hutchison Telecommunications
International]".
The UK operator already had a small stake in the Indian mobile phone market,
owning 5.6% of Bharti Airtel. Vodafone has now granted an option to Bharti
Group to buy this stake. In return Vodafone's new Indian subsidiary and Bharti
have signed a memorandum of understanding to share their mobile network
infrastructure, while continuing to compete for customers. Last week Vodafone
signed a similar agreement in the UK, where it agreed with rival Orange to
merge their 3G networks. Vodafone currently has interests in emerging markets
including Egypt, Romania and India - and underlined its ambitions for further
expansion in similar markets at an investor meeting in January.
