Reliance Communications chairman Anil Ambani on Tuesday said that the company may consider selling stake in its mobile tower arm and will also again attempt to list its undersea cable arm in Singapore when market conditions improve.
Addressing the company’s annual general meeting he said he expected consolidation in the telecom industry, making it a five to six player market. He also predicted a rise in telecom rates in the long term.
“After January 2013, spectrum auctions would be over. By then, there would be a fair amount of visibility on the number of players and their infrastructure requirements”, he said.
Ambani said the company is reporting cash flow now and will continue to remain cash positive in future.
He said data will lead the next wave of wireless growth in the country," adding RCom is already the leader in non-voice wireless segment which bring in over 20 percent of the total revenue.
Amabani said that the company’s focus is to monetise all assets and increase the cash flow and profitability, and to be the lowest cost operator in the industry. Going forward, we are committed to unlock value and pursue several initiatives to reduce the overall debt.
The debt-laden company had expected to raise $1.5 billion ( Rs 7,700 crore), by parting with as much as 75% of the submarine cables that were held by Flag Telecom, which is a unit of Reliance Globalcom. |