New Delhi: On a day when Indian conglomerate Essar threatened legal action against Vodafone over the Hutch-Essar deal, Vodafone's CEO Arun Sarin met Communications and IT Minister Dayanidhi Maran and briefed him on the company's future plans for India.
The British telecom major on Monday won the bid to acquire the stake of Hutchison Telecom in India's fourth largest mobile operator Hutch-Essar.
But on Tuesday, Essar sources said the company is considering legal action over the deal on account of it being ignored in taking key business decisions. Essar is concerned over Vodafone's move to forge ahead with plans like network sharing without consulting it first.
"This is just the beginning," Maran told PTI about the Hutch-Vodafone deal. "India's telecom growth story is really interesting. Once
the tele-density crosses 25 per cent, the growth curve will become even steeper," he said.
When asked to comment on the valuation of Hutch-Essar, the minister said: "It is between the two companies and I have nothing to say on that." Maran also hailed the UPA government's policies which have contributed a lot to the Indian telecom growth story.
Maran hoped that the number of mobile users in India, which is currently 150 million, would touch 250 million by end of 2007 and 500 million mark in the next three years. According to PTI, the meeting between Maran and Sarin lasted about 25 minutes.
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