Trai sought details after complaints that some new players who were given country-wide licences sold stakes at huge premiums.
Telecom company STel, among the new players granted a licence by the government last year, has brought in the Subrata Roy-controlled Sahara India Investment Corporation Ltd as another equity partner.
Stel has told the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) — which had asked the new licensees for details of their shareholding structure — that it had an equity capital of Rs 18 crore held by Indian entity Skycity Foundations (51 per cent) and Telecom Investments (Mauritius) Ltd (49 per cent). Its share capital was increased to Rs 138 crore in December 2008, with contributions from existing shareholders and Sahara India Investment Corp Ltd. However, the exact breakup is not known.
A e-mail question to the Sahara group remained unanswered as the group said the officials concerned were not available.
STel has a Universal Access Service (UAS) licence in Bihar, Orissa, J&K, Himachal Pradesh and the northeast and has not started services till now. There has been speculation that NRI businessman C Sivasankaran would pick up equity in the company after selling his entire stake in Aircel to Malaysian telecom company Maxis. However, Sivasankaran has denied any such move.
Among six new licencees, Loop Telecom, STel, Sistema-Shyam and Swan Telecom have gone through a change in equity structure after they got the licence. Trai is yet to analyse Unitech Wireless’ equity structure. Datacom Solutions is the only company among the new ones that has not altered its equity structure.
Trai had sought the equity details from all new licensees after complaints that some new telecom players, who were given country-wide licences on a first-come-first-serve basis, sold stakes to investors at huge premiums. The information has been sent to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).
According to the regulator, Loop Telecom had an equity capital of Rs 130 crore, held by two Indian promoters, BPL Mobile Communications (51.24 per cent) and BPL Communications (48.76 per cent). Later, the company issued additional equity, increasing the share capital to Rs 307.63 crore.
“Out of the additional share capital of Rs 176.98 crore, Rs 73.72 crore was contributed by a third foreign entity, Capital Global Ltd, and the rest by the two existing shareholders,” it said.
In Sistema-Shyam, at the time of applying for the licence, the Indian promoter had an equity holding of 70.02 per cent and the foreign promoter, Sistema Joint Stock Financial Corporation, held 10 per cent. The total equity capital was Rs 455.96 crore. Later, the foreign promoter increased its equity share to 51 per cent by purchasing the shares of the Indian promoters, Shyam Telecom and others.
Subsequently, the promoters issued additional shares, increasing the share capital by Rs 2,000 crore to Rs 2,455.96 crore. At present, Sistema holds 73.71 per cent of the equity.
Likewise, the equity holding of Swan Telecom also changed. At the time of applying for the licence, Tiger Trustee Pvt Ltd (TTPL) was holding 90.10 per cent, and Reliance Telecom the remaining 9.90 per cent. Later, the company informed the DoT that there was a divestment of the stake by Reliance Telecom.
After the divestment, TTPL and Delphi Investment (the foreign equity partner) were holding 90.10 per cent and 9.90 per cent, respectively. Additionally, Dynamic Balwas Infrastructure was holding 99,20,000 shares (8 per cent non-cumulative redeemable) preferential shares of Re 1 each issued at a premium of Rs 999 each.
Additional equity was also infused into the company, with TTPL converting 49,43,336 preferential shares into equity shares at a premium of Rs 285.73. TTPL (6,19,218 preferential shares), foreign entity Etisalat Mauritius (11,29,94,228 shares) and Indian company Genex Exim Ventures (133,17,245 shares) hold stakes in the company.
