Telekom Malaysia picks up stake in Spice Telecom

Another major Malaysian telecom company is entering the Indian telecom market by acquiring stakes in existing private telecom players in the Indian market. Malaysia’s No. 1 phone company Telekom Malaysia Bhd has announced their plans to buy 49 percent of India’s Spice Telecom Ltd.

It is their latest venture to expand their presence in the Asian countries. Telecom Malaysia is a government owned company and they would be paying US$178.8 million for this stake in the India’s seventh largest cellular phone company.

Spice Telecom provides mobile services to around 1.82 million subscribers in India’s states of Punjab and Karnataka. The deal is expected to help the Malaysian telecom company to tap India’s fast-growing market as well as enlarge its footprint in South Asia. They have already made significant investments in Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.

Spice Telecom is also working on expanding their network into other states such as Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, and Rajasthan.