The Russian telecom major invested of over $3.2 billion in Indian wireless market. It has been in talks with Aircel for a possible merger to save its investments in India.
The February 2, 2012 Supreme Court order is the primary reason for partially pulling out of India.
MTS India, which will participate in March 2013 spectrum auction, will focus on other 11 circles for its future growth.
Both Videocon and Uninor followed similar strategies.
Its total employee base is around 3,000. MTS is currently working on assisting the affected resources.
The Russian mobile major will inform its customers in 10 circles to port out to other telecom operators of their choice. In fact, several mobile users are facing uncertain future due to regulatory issues and lack of planning.
MTS India claims that the Government of India has confirmed that SSTL will be able to set off previous licence costs against the new auction prices.
Vsevolod Rozanov, president & CEO, Sistema Shyam TeleServices, says that the company is in the process of drawing an optimal strategy for the auctions based on several factors including spectrum pricing, levels of competition etc.
MTS India will focus on its data centric-voice enabled strategy in select circles.
MTS India has a customer base of over 14 million, out of which less than 15 percent come from the impacted circles.
Recently, European mobile giant Telenor said it will increase capital spending (Capex) for 2013 after finalizing Uninor’s license agreement in India.
On 14 November 2012, Telewings, a company controlled by Telenor, secured GSM spectrum licenses for INR 40 billion (approx. NOK 4.4 billion) in 6 of the former 13 circles in which Uninor had mobile operation. Uninor is currently considering bid for Mumbai circle and looking for significant reduction in basic spectrum charge.
