As well as teaming up with the state phone company, Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd to create a telecommunications hub in India via which all passing international phone traffic would be channeled (CI No 3,068), British Telecommunications Plc has designs on the Indian cellular market and on Friday said it will pay about 60m pounds to take over Compagnie Generale des Eaux SA’s 22.5% stake in Bharti Cellular Ltd by acquiring GMC, the Generale des Eaux subsidiary that holds the stake. The other partners in the Bharti Cellular consortium are Bharti Telecom Pvt Ltd, Stet SpA, Mauritian cellular operator Emtel and another UK company, Mobile Systems International Ltd. Bharti operates one of the two cellular services in the Delhi license area, which takes in Delhi, Faridabad, Noida, Gurgaon and Ghaziabad. It has the largest subscriber base of any Indian cellular operator and claims over 65,000 subscribers.
