SoftBank-controlled US telecom major Sprint Nextel Corporation will buy 26 per cent stake in Indian joint venture Sprint Telecom India Pvt Ltd from local partner Persistent Systems Ltd for Rs 1.87 crore ($296,000).
The company has received the permission of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), the nodal government body monitoring foreign investment in India.
In April 2011, Sprint Nextel entered India through the JV in which it picked 74 per cent stake in line with the FDI norms in the telecom sector back then. With liberalisation, FDI up to 100 per cent is now allowed in Indian telecom companies.
Sprint Telecom India provides national long-distance, international long-distance, internet services and managed network services in India.
Pune-based Persistent Systems, a software product and technology services provider, was founded in 1990 by IIT Kharagpur alumnus Anand Deshpande. The company develops software solutions in next-generation technology areas, including analytics, Big Data, cloud computing, mobility and social, for the telecommunications, banking & financial services, life sciences and healthcare verticals.
Sprint, the fourth-largest wireless network operator in the US, provides wireless services and is a major global internet carrier. It had more than 57 million connections as of March 31, 2015. In July 2013, Japanese telecommunications company SoftBank bought majority stake in the firm.
