Chinese telecom vendor Huawei may be one of the interested bidders for picking up stake in the factories owned by State-run Indian Telephone Industries Ltd. Huawei told Business Line that it was open to discussing opportunities for strengthening relationship with the Indian manufacturing company for whom the Department of Telecom will invite bids from strategic partners.
When contacted, a Huawei India spokesperson did not rule out the possibility of acquiring ITI. “Huawei India already has a strong and successful tie-up with ITI for transmission network for the Indian market, and is open to further discussion for more collaboration with business partners and governments in developing the local telecom industry, including local manufacturing in India. The specific plan is yet to be finalised by our parent company,” the spokesperson said.
Alcatel Lucent could be the other interested party, but the company is yet to confirm their plans.
Both Huawei and Alcatel Lucent has had a strategic partnership in the past for supplying mobile equipment to BSNL. Both these companies are also strong in the WiMax and IP-based telecom equipment market for which ITI’s existing factories can be used. However, if Huawei does bid for a stake in ITI’s factories it may have to deal with the security concerns raised against Chinese vendors by the Intelligence Bureau.
3 SPVs planned
The Government is proposing to set up three special purpose vehicle companies for divesting stake in three of the six manufacturing plants owned by ITI. The three plants are located in Rae Bareli, Nainital and Bangalore and is involved in producing WiMax modems and optical transmission equipment. DoT plans to invite private players to pick up majority stake in the range of 51 per cent to 74 per cent in each of the three SPVs.
To start off the process, DoT on Monday invited expression of interest from global consultants to act as advisors to the Government. The consultant will be finalised by end of June.
Source: The Hindu Businessline