Tata Teleservices plans to rebrand its Indian mobile operation to reflect the end of its partnership with NTT DoCoMo.
The two telcos came together to create Tata DoCoMo, India’s se venth largest mobile operator by subscribers, in 2009, but NTT DoCoMo last year decided to exercise an option that will enable it to exit the joint venture.
However, Tata plans to start working on a new brand before the divorce is finalised, the Economic Times reported on Monday, citing an unnamed source. The telco will drop the DoCoMo name and begin a brand-building exercise with its new name – whatever that will be – later this year, the source said.
Tata declined to comment on the report, the paper said.
It is almost a year since NTT DoCoMo confirmed that it planned to leave Tata DoCoMo.
Under the terms of the 2009 shareholder agreement between it and Tata, the Japanese operator has the right to sell its 26.5% stake in Tata DoCoMo back to Tata for 72.5 billion rupees (around €1 billion at the current exchange rate), which is half what it paid for the shares.
The Reserve Bank of India gave its backing to the sale in January, but according to the Business Standard it later backtracked following opposition from the finance ministry. The situation will ultimately have to be resolved through arbitration.
In the meantime, there has been talk of a tie-up between Telenor’s Uninor and Tata DoCoMo.
With DoCoMo looking to sell its stake and Tata reportedly keen to exit the telecoms industry altogether, the Norwegian operator has been named as a possible partner or indeed buyer for Tata DoCoMo.
The fact that Uninor was the only entrant in the recent mobile spectrum auction in India to walk away with nothing, while Tata Teleservices spent INR78.5 billion on 800 MHz and 1800 MHz frequencies, exacerbated rumours of cooperation between the two.
