Abu Dhabi: Emirates Telecommunications Corp (Etisalat) said on Tuesday it could spend up to $4 billion on an acquisition or a licence to enter India, the world’s second-largest mobile phone market.

Mohammed Omran, chairman of the Arab world’s second biggest telecoms firm, said the time was ripe for a purchase.

“The market value for shares (in India) has gone down a little so it’s a good time for us to consider entry,” he told Reuters in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates capital.

“We could spend in the range of $1 billion to $3 to $4 billion dollars; that depends on the opportunities and on how much of a percent we buy,” Omran said.

The price depends on whether statecontrolled Etisalat invests in a piece of an existing operator or in a new licence, Omran said.

Etisalat said earlier in April it was in talks with several Indian telecoms companies, including Spice Communications.

“Our aim is to buy into an operator that covers most of India, and Spice is one possibility,” he said on Tuesday, adding that no decision has yet been made.

India has 12 firms providing wireless and fixed-line telephone services in some or all of its 23 telecom service areas to over 290 million users, and has issued 120 new licences this year.

More than 8 million new mobile phone subscribers are signing up each month, reflecting a growing economy, cheap handsets and low call rates. India now has more than 250 million mobile users.

Like other Gulf Arab telecom operators buoyed by windfall revenues from record oil prices, Etisalat is expanding beyond its home market,where competition has intensified. Etisalat’s monopoly in the UAE market was broken when rival du started a mobile phone network in February 2007. Etisalat, which has operations in 16 countries and 51 million customers, has been on a four-year, $5 billion spending spree.

Source : DNA