SingTel proposal not part of next FIPB meeting
Singapore telecom firm SingTel's plans to start long distance telephony in India may take a little longer as the Foreign Investment Promotion Board has not listed the company's proposal at its next meeting.
By PTI |
NEW DELHI: Singapore telecom firm SingTel's plans to start long distance telephony in India may take a little longer as the Foreign Investment Promotion Board has not listed the company's proposal at its next meeting.
FIPB has not included SingTel Australia Holding's proposal for its November 16 meeting as Department of Telecommunications and Bharti Airtel, in which it already has a stake, have not submitted clarifications on certain issues.
If DoT and Bharti give clarifications within the next two days, the proposal could be listed as a supplementary agenda for the meeting, official sources said.
However, sources in Bharti said the company has not yet received any query from the Board.
SingTel Australia Holding is a unit of SingTel and had approached the Board for setting up a joint venture in India. The proposal entailed foreign direct investment of up to 74 per cent for telecom services, the maximum permissible limit under the current regulations.
The proposal was deferred on November 3 since it did not disclose the names of Indian partners and the services which are to be excluded from SingTel long distance telephony, official sources said.
FIPB had asked DoT to clarify the issue since Bharti's conditional no-objection certificate includes certain areas where the new joint venture cannot operate, the sources said.
The proposal attracts Press Note 1 as SingTel holds 15.6 per cent in Bharti Airtel and 32.81 per cent in Bharti Telecom Ltd. Bharti has already given a "conditional no-objection" certificate to SingTel's proposal.
FIPB has not included SingTel Australia Holding's proposal for its November 16 meeting as Department of Telecommunications and Bharti Airtel, in which it already has a stake, have not submitted clarifications on certain issues.
If DoT and Bharti give clarifications within the next two days, the proposal could be listed as a supplementary agenda for the meeting, official sources said.
However, sources in Bharti said the company has not yet received any query from the Board.
SingTel Australia Holding is a unit of SingTel and had approached the Board for setting up a joint venture in India. The proposal entailed foreign direct investment of up to 74 per cent for telecom services, the maximum permissible limit under the current regulations.
The proposal was deferred on November 3 since it did not disclose the names of Indian partners and the services which are to be excluded from SingTel long distance telephony, official sources said.
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FIPB had asked DoT to clarify the issue since Bharti's conditional no-objection certificate includes certain areas where the new joint venture cannot operate, the sources said.
The proposal attracts Press Note 1 as SingTel holds 15.6 per cent in Bharti Airtel and 32.81 per cent in Bharti Telecom Ltd. Bharti has already given a "conditional no-objection" certificate to SingTel's proposal.
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