Emerging Market Operators Demonstrate Their Market Clout

Author: Jake Saunders, Vice President of Forecasting

Published: 19 Aug 2008

In June 2008, Reliance Communications, an Indian conglomerate with varied telecom interests, entered exclusive negotiations period with MTN of South Africa. These negotiations were hot on the heels of MTN‘s attempt to acquire Bharti Telecom, which had fallen through in late May. In the end, the negotiations fell through due to fractious disagreement between the Ambani brothers. The younger brother, Anil, runs and owns a large stake in Reliance Communications and his brother, Mukesh, owns a large stake and runs Reliance Industrial. This division of ownership and management was arrived at following the death of their father, Dhirubhai Ambani in 2002. The older brother, Mukesh, claimed his company, Reliance Industrial, has the right of first refusal over any sale in shares in Reliance Communications. The younger brother, Anil, claimed that the right of first refusal was never countersigned. It was reported that the negotiations ultimately failed as MTN did not want to be subject to a protracted ownership dispute in the Indian courts.

The full text of this Insight is available to subscribers of the Mobile Operator Strategies Research Service and the Mobile Networks Research Service and the Enterprise Mobility Research Service.

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