Economic
Times — April 11, 2002
Tata
group companies will pump in close to Rs 1,600
crore as fresh equity into basic services arm,
Tata Teleservices, over the next 12-18 months
to enable the latter’s aggressive foray into five
new circles. This will be part of the Rs 4,000
crore total equity required to finance the Rs
8,250 crore investment plan (debt equity ratio
of 1:1) for Tata Teleservices basic services roll-out
in a total of six circles including AP over the
next five years, S Ramakrishnan, managing director
said on Wednesday.
Half
of this equity, including the equity already invested
towards operations in the AP circle, will come
from group companies, he said. Group companies
have already put in an equity of Rs 925 crore
in the AP operations, Rajeeva Bhargava, CFO Tata
Teleservices added. This means, over the next
12-18 months, about Rs 1,573 crore will come by
way of equity from group companies. Currently
Tata Industries and Tata Power are the major equity
investors in the company. For the rest of the
equity, the options are being explored, Mr Ramakrishnan
said when asked whether the IPO route was a possibility.
We
have to mature as a successful telecom company
before we can consider an IPO, he said speaking
o the future plans of the company. Asked about
the possibility of roping in a partner and if
so by when it would happen, Mr Ramakrishnan said
Tata Teleservices was open to the idea but much
would depend on finding a suitable strategic company
to partner with. "It is not from the standpoint
of raising money that we are looking at the possibility
of a strategic partner but more from the view
point of a service offering, he stressed. As of
today we do not have any significant synergetic
partner in India," he added stating Tata
Teleservices had the option of getting along without
a partner for the next three to four years.
The
company will be rolling out basic services including
CDMA wireless connectivity in five new circles
by Q3 of the current fiscal. The projections are
that Tata Tele would have a subscriber base of
45 lakh over the next five year, up from the current
1.5 lakh in AP alone. Of this, by March 31, the
company had 42,000 WLL subscribers. The company
has been in operation in AP for three years now
and has invested Rs 1,900 crore (including the
investment on Tata ISP, now in the process of
being merged), Mr Bhargava said. The new circles
where Tata Teleservices would be launching services
include Delhi, Gujarat, TN, Karnataka, while it
is in the process of signing up for the licence
of the Maharashtra circle,
Mr Ramakrishnan said.
