Batelco to complete buy of 49% of India's S Tel

By Shikrallah Nakhoul, Dow Jones Newswires, Tuesday 12 May 2009

Bahraini operator currently holds a stake of 36.9% in Indian mobile player.
Bahrain Telecommunications Co., or Batelco, the country's first telecom provider, said Tuesday it has completed the first phase of procedures to acquire 49% of India's mobile operator S Tel for $225 million.

"Batelco now holds a 36.9% share of S Tel and in the coming months, Batelco's shareholding will increase to 49%," Peter Kaliaropoulos, Batelco group's chief executive said in a statement on the Bahrain bourse Web site.

S Tel was licensed to operate in 6 Indian states - Bihar, Orissa, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, North-East India and Assam, according to the statement. S Tel aims to enter "the rapidly growing mobile markets of North East and North West India. With the population in these areas around the 230 million mark and mobile penetration less than 20%," the statement said.

"The investment in S Tel will provide significant growth opportunities for Batelco in the expanding Indian market, the third largest and fastest growing mobile market in the world, where mobile penetration is currently growing at more than 11 million subscribers a month," Kaliaropoulos said in the statement.

"Our main priority now is to assist S Tel to accelerate the roll-out of its network infrastructure in readiness for the launch of its mobile telecommunication services in the fourth quarter of 2009," he added.

In January, media reports said that Batelco has partnered with Millenium Private Equity, an entity regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority, to set up Batelco Millenium India Co. a special purpose vehicle to acquire the S Tel stake.

Batelco, which provides integrated telecommunication solutions, including fixed and mobile telephone services, said that after the S Tel acquisition, it will be operating in seven markets across the Middle East, North Africa and Asia.