VCCircle

Here is the biggest deal in Indian telecom if it goes through. The Wall Street Journal reports (under the sub wall) that buyout funds Blackstone and Texas Pacific Group are "considering a possible acquisition" of the stake of Hutchison Telecommunications International in the Indian telecom business Hutchison Essar. The deal could be as big as $8 billion, Journal reports.

The report also says that Blackstone may join hands with Reliance Communications Ltd for acquiring Hutch. The report is however unconfirmed, while a Hutch spokeswoman refused to comment.

Hutchison Telecommunications controls about 67 per cent of Hutchison Essar, while Essar Group, the Indian JV partner, controls 33 per cent. Hutch, a GSM player, operates in 16 of the 23 telecom circles in India. It has over 18 million mobile subscribers in India.

The Reliance Communications angle is interesting. The company is toying with the idea of entering GSM service nationally, and this could be a good strategy to acquire the national presence in one shot ratjer building it ground up. Reliance Communications is a CDMA player, while its subsidiary Reliance Telecom is a GSM player in essentially eastern states.

(Hat tip to Vijay)