SSTL in talks on partnerships to expand frequency resources in India
MOSCOW. April 3 (Interfax) - Sistema Shyam TeleServices Ltd. (SSTL), a subsidiary of Russian conglomerate Sistema JSFC in India, is holding negotiations with other Indian operators on partnerships to combine frequency resources, Sistema president Mikhail Shamolin told reporters on Thursday.
SSTL provides mobile services using CDMA technology and it needs additional frequency resources to migrate to LTE 4G services. However, SSTL did not bid in recent auctions for frequencies, as it balked at the starting price of about $200 million and the demand to pay about an additional $400 million for continuity of frequencies.
SSTL is now waiting for the Indian government to liberalize rules for the sale and exchange of frequencies.
"The spectrum that we have has become quite valuable. We are now thinking about how to realize this value - through M&A deals, attracting partners or in some other way," Shamolin said.
"And it is also possible to convert our spectrum to LTE. The only question is how to make it continuous. If we manage to combine fragmented frequency bands, and there are certain possibilities for this, the value of the spectrum will increase further and the prospects of launching LTE will become realistic, considering that SSTL's equipment is ready for this," Shamolin said.
The spectrum can be combined by exchanging frequencies with other CDMA operators, he said. They include BSNL, Reliance and Tata, "holders of CDMA spectrum that could be complimentary for both us and them," Shamolin said.
"We're holding active negotiations with them," Shamolin said, adding that Sistema is not planning new investments in the Indian business.
