RCom's dream to turn No 1 shattered

Vodafone's emergence as the top bidder for Hutch-Essar comes as a big blow for the Anil Ambani-controlled Reliance Communications Ltd as it dashes its hope of emerging the largest mobile operator in the country from its number two position at present.

A successful acquisition of Hutch-Essar would have made Reliance Communications India’s largest cellular company, with a combined subscriber base of 52 million, ahead of Bharti Airtel, which has a subscriber base of 33 million. It would have given RCL immediate GSM presence in 16 circles in India — no waiting period and no brand building exercises. “Just buy and brand it RCL” would have been the easiest route to grab a larger share of the world’s fastest growing market.

Now, RCL will have to wait to get licences for GSM operations. Add to it the wait for spectrum and network rollout and it could be anywhere between two and four years before RCL turns a pan-India GSM player. The premium in buying HEL would have been the telco’s customer base, which is largely high-end and corporate customers.

Source: iSource updates