Russia will acquire 19.8 per cent stake in Sistema Shyam Teleservices Ltd, a joint venture between Sistema of Russia and Indian entity Shyam Group, for $676 million (around Rs 3,150 crore).
The discussions are 'indicative and non-binding' in nature.
The auction was shunned by all other companies.
The FIPB, headed by Finance Secretary Arvind Mayaram, at its meeting on Tuesday considered 35 proposals.
Sistema Shyam TeleServices Ltd is a venture involving equity participation by Sistema of Russia, the Russian Federation and the Shyam Group of India.
The rates will come into effect from May 15 and users will be able to avail these lower rates for a period of one month, SSTL -- a joint venture between Russia-based Sistema and India's Shyam Group -- said.
The Department of Telecom has worked out a one-time spectrum charge of over Rs 2,060 crore to be levied from operators for the period they remained in business after their licences were cancelled in February last year, sources said.
The telecom industry is moving towards a five-plus one model.
SSTL is the second operator after Vodafone that has approached FIPB for raising FDI limit.
Reliance Communications Ltd (RCom) on Friday announced the sale of 51 per cent stake in its telecom tower business to Canada-based Brookfield Infrastructure Group, for an upfront cash payment of Rs 11,000 crore.
The Unified Licence for all 22 Service Areas across India will make the company the first telecom operator in the country to get pan India Unified Licence, the company said in a statement.
The S&P BSE Sensex ended 80 points up at 23,789 while the Nifty50 closed at 7,235, up 24 points.
World's second largest mobile operator Vodafone Plc of UK on Tuesday sought FIPB approval to invest Rs 10,141 crore (Rs 101.41 billion) in raising its stake in the Indian arm to 100 per cent.
After a two year run-in with controversies, telecom sector now looks stable and seems back on its feet with initial investment proposal of over Rs 11,000 crore (Rs 110 billion) received in 2013.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances