MTS may have opted out of the CDMA auctions, but it clearly hasn’t given up on its CDMA business plans in India.
On Tuesday, sources said that the much-speculated Aircel-MTS deal had been put on hold due to a valuation issue. While MTS had earlier valued the deal at $3 billion, Aircel, it is speculated, values the deal at $6 billion.
Both companies declined to comment.
But the MTS spokesperson confirmed the telco was very keen on continuing its CDMA business in India, in which it has invested $3.1 billion in India. MTS has a total of 16.84 million subscribers in India, as of August, according to Trai.
MTS is also expecting a positive relief from the Supreme Court on its curative petition filed regarding the ‘unfair’ cancellation of its 21 2G licenses in connection with the 2G scam. MTS has pan-India CDMA spectrum in 22 circles.
A few days ago, telecom minister Kapil Sibal had asked the law ministry to ‘make preparations’ for any expected legal action by Russian conglomerate Sistema, which operates under the MTS brand in India against the government.
In case MTS wins its case and decides to continue CDMA operations in India sans any acquisition, it may be the only CDMA player in the country.
Telecom analyst Mahesh Uppal said CDMA is a dominant technology in both the US and Korea.
“Data service quality on this band are far superior than those on GSM. If MTS decides to continue in India, it will be to promote data services. It could also be pursuing 4G goals. MTS is a big player and and it has not yet exhausted its options in India. With the right infrastructure and user experience, it will certainly do better than the other new telcos,” he said.
Read
On Tuesday, sources said that the much-speculated Aircel-MTS deal had been put on hold due to a valuation issue. While MTS had earlier valued the deal at $3 billion, Aircel, it is speculated, values the deal at $6 billion.
Both companies declined to comment.
But the MTS spokesperson confirmed the telco was very keen on continuing its CDMA business in India, in which it has invested $3.1 billion in India. MTS has a total of 16.84 million subscribers in India, as of August, according to Trai.
MTS is also expecting a positive relief from the Supreme Court on its curative petition filed regarding the ‘unfair’ cancellation of its 21 2G licenses in connection with the 2G scam. MTS has pan-India CDMA spectrum in 22 circles.
A few days ago, telecom minister Kapil Sibal had asked the law ministry to ‘make preparations’ for any expected legal action by Russian conglomerate Sistema, which operates under the MTS brand in India against the government.
In case MTS wins its case and decides to continue CDMA operations in India sans any acquisition, it may be the only CDMA player in the country.
Telecom analyst Mahesh Uppal said CDMA is a dominant technology in both the US and Korea.
“Data service quality on this band are far superior than those on GSM. If MTS decides to continue in India, it will be to promote data services. It could also be pursuing 4G goals. MTS is a big player and and it has not yet exhausted its options in India. With the right infrastructure and user experience, it will certainly do better than the other new telcos,” he said.
Read