Telecom Roundup: Tata Communications faces liquidity crisis, Swan ownership probe..and more

Roundup from the telecom industry:

3G Auction Date

The decision, awaiting approval from the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA).will be out in another 10 days (so expect more delay).

To summarize: “The Ministry of Finance had rejected DoT’s reserve price of Rs 2,020 crore for pan-India 3G spectrum and had asked the department to double it, while the Ministry of Industry and Ministry of IT had endorsed DoT’s price. – ET

And meanwhile, MTNL is commercially launching it’s 3G services in Delhi in the next 10 days (first week of Feb for Mumbai launch).

Swan telecom ownership to be probed?

DoT has asked the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) to probe the actual ownership of Swan Telecom, which was amongst the six companies who were granted telecom licenses last year.

“The DoT is also learnt to have asked the MCA to probe if Anil Ambani’s group owned stake in Swan Telecom when it was granted a GSM licence.

While ADAG owned 9.9% stake in Swan (max. allowed is 10%), members of Parliament have alleged that some of the directors on board of Tiger (had 91.1% stake) were ADA-group employees. Besides, RCOM in 2007 had also given RS 992 crore to Swan by way redeemable preference shares.” ET

MNP Delayed?

Mobile Number Portability, slated for June 2009 launch (in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkatta and Chennai) has been delayed by a month – source

Tata Communications faces liquidity crisis

The company has requested the Department of Telecom (DoT) to consider relaxation of the provisions that puts a cap on the total indebtedness of the company vis-à-vis its networth, a move that would allow Tata Communications to raise additional funds,

The note said that the next financial year (2009-10) is going to be nearly impossible without additional non-debt funding. TCL has approached its major stakeholders — the government and the Tata Sons — for the rights issue to raise up to Rs 1,000 crore and the more funds through debts. – ET