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HFCL Infotel hunts for strategic partner

Unlisted Indian telecom firm HFCL Infotel is scouting for a cash-rich strategic partner to fund its planned expansion into the fixed-line telephone business, a domestic daily reported on Wednesday.

HFCL Infotel, a fully-owned broadband services subsidiary of telecom equipment and services company Himachal Futuristic Communications Ltd, has applied for six fixed-line licences, the Business Standard newspaper said.

The government began accepting applications for fixed-line licences last month and has been swamped with over 100 bids for each of the 21 circles or service zones covering the country.

"HFCL will not expand its investments in HFCL Infotel and any further requirements of resources will be through dilution of its present investment in the company," the paper quoted HFCL's chairman Vinay Maloo as saying.

Maloo told the paper that talks were underway with some international firms, but did not offer any names. HFCL Infotel is building a Rs11.86 billion ($255.7 million) fibre optic broadband network in the northern state of Punjab.

The paper said the government's recent decision to allowed fixed-line firms to offer limited mobile service had triggered the hunt for a strategic partner.

That government decision has made India's fixed-line telephone business, long shunned by private operators, suddenly more attractive, according to analysts.

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