Indian telcos have seen ₹1.4-lakh crore investments in the last six months; data services hold promise for the future
India’s telecom sector, which has been grappling with huge debts and massive regulatory headwinds for the past few years, has received investments of ₹1.42 lakh crore in the last six months. All the four mobile operators have received some form of funding, which indicates that investors continue to bet on the once poster boy of economic reforms.
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Big bets
The biggest investment from a private entity has come from Mark Zuckerberg-backed Facebook, which took 9.9 per cent stake in Reliance’s Jio Platforms for ₹43,574 crore. Jio Platforms has also received ₹5,655 crore from US private equity giant Silver Lake. Both these investments will help Mukesh Ambani to bring down the debt in his telecom venture, Reliance Jio, to zero by March 2021.
There could be more stake sale by Jio, giving it enough headroom to undertake the next big rollout of 5G networks.
Source: The Hindu BusinessLine
