Loop Mobile is on sale and if all goes well, Bharti Airtel will soon take the company under its wing. Loop Mobile is currently owned by Dubai-based Khaitan Holdings Group which is looking forward to quit the telecom segment of India for good.
The guys over at The Times of India have found out through sources familiar with the negotiation process that Bharti is very much interested in Loop Mobile. Both organizations have been in talks for quite some time now, but they are yet to discuss terms, conditions and guidelines concerning mergers and acquisitions in the telecom sector.
Another important aspect that Bharti Airtel will have to consider before signing on the dotted line is that Loop Mobile’s license is set to expire exactly a year from now, that’s in September 2014. Which means that a license fee needs to be paid for renewing it and both companies will have to come to a conclusion regarding it too.
Apart from Bharti Airtel, some other firms like Aircel, Telenor and Idea Cellular were interested in acquiring Khaitan group’s network provider. The carrier started operating back in 1995 when it was called BPL and was taken over by the Dubai-based organization in 2005 when its name was changed to Loop Mobile.
The service provider on sale has as many as 3 million subscribers as of July 2013 and according to the aforementioned website, close to 30 percent of these users have post paid connections. It has also been revealed that Loop generates relatively high average revenue per user (ARPU) and Airtel is likely to benefit a lot, if the deal is finalized.
Spokespersons of both Bharti Airtel and Loop Mobile have chosen to keep mum.