Reliance Communications is making progress on a couple of potential deals that would boost its business, it emerged on Wednesday.
The Indian operator is working on an acquisition of smaller rival Sistema Shyam TeleServices (SSTL) and is in discussions with Reliance Jio Infocomm regarding the possibility of sharing spectrum.
Talks with Russia’s Sistema are at an "advanced stage", The Hindu Business Line reported, citing comments made by Reliance Group chairman Anil Ambani at the firm’s annual general meeting. A deal could be signed within the next month or two, he said.
SSTL had 8.62 million mobile subscribers at the end of July, according to the latest statistics from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), giving it a market share of less than 1%. RCom, meanwhile, is one of the country’s bigger players with 110.44 million customers and an 11.2% market share.
RCom admitted it was in M&A discussions with Sistema in June. At the time it said the two companies could merge their Indian operations via a stock swap.
Separately, RCom is holding talks with Reliance Jio Infocomm, the would-be newcomer to the Indian mobile market that is owned by Ambani’s b rother Mukesh, about a spectrum deal.
The two are in advanced negotiations on spectrum trading and sharing in the 800 MHz-850 MHz band, the paper said. According to Anil Ambani, a deal between them would give RCom’s customers access to Reliance Jio’s "world class 4G LTE networks," with minimum capex requirement.
Reliance Jio is in the process of rolling out 4G mobile services in India. It is due to launch services in December, several months later than originally planned. In the meantime, it is offering an over-the-top voice and messaging application, known as Jio Chat.
