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- By Parinda News Bureau, August 2, 2006, 11:15 IST
BPL Communication's Mumbai circle's may not merge with Hutchison Essar.Essar bought BPL a year back and indications are, it will serve a termination notice to Hutch on the merger issue.The deadline for completing the merger was 31st July but the government approvals have yet to come through.
When Essar acquired BPL last year it had planned to merge BPL's operations in Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Kerala and Mumbai under one single banner. While the other circles have merged, the Mumbai deal has not been completed within the time frame set for it.
Two companies merging in one circle is unprecedented. Both BPL and Hucth had 10MHz spectrum but as per government regulations, the merged entity would get only 15Mhz spectrum, having to surrender 5Mhz.
Despite considerable efforts and extending the deadline by a month, this issue could not be sorted out.
Media reports say Essar plans to continue running the Mumbai operations on its own. If it chooses not to, there are many companies more than willing to buy out BPL's operations. Bharti and Reliance are keen. Idea Cellular currently has no operations in Mumbai could also bid for BPL's operations in Mumbai.
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