Spice Communications to invest $2 billion for expansion  

NEW DELHI: GSM service provider Spice Communications has announced to invest
$2 billion for starting their operations in the 21 circles across the country. 

Dilip Modi, vice chairman and president, Mcorp Global, said that the company
would be expanding their operations across the country and have already applied
for the licenses. With this move Spice would have its presence across the 23
circles of India. “We are bringing in a national brand, which very much
existed but in two circles only. Now we are entering the national market with
our own brand of handsets, value added offerings and organised mobile retail,”
Modi said. 

The company would also invest up to $500 million for its existing operations. 

However, Modi said that they are looking at infrastructure sharing for
expanding their network to minimize cost. “We are going in for an early
listing. The advisors for the IPO plan have been finalised as Enam Securities,
Deutsche Bank and J P Morgan,” Modi added. 

The Spice Communications offers its GSM services under the brand name, Spice
Telecom, and has operations in Punjab and Karnataka. It has a subscriber base of
over 1.7 million subscribers in both these circles. Spice Communications is the
flagship company of MCorp Global, a company into telecommunications, office
automation and information technology. Malaysia's largest telecom company
Telekom Malaysia holds 49 per cent stake in the company through its subsidiary,
TM International, while the balance 51 per cent is owned by Spice Communications
(India) and associates.