BPL Mobile

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BPL Mobile was awarded license by Department of Telecommunications, on behalf of Government of India, to offer cellular phone services in Mumbai region. BPL Mobile was created by BPL Communications (74 percent) and France Telecom (26 percent). BPL Communications was the holding company for BPL Group’s twin cellular ventures – BPL Mobile and BPL Cellular. BPL Communication in turn was led by the BPL Group (approximately 60 percent) and a consortium of investors that included AIG (USA), Actis (formerly CDC Capital), TVG (Hong Kong), Asian infrastructure fund, and AIDEC Management Co (Singapore). In December 2004, France Telecom sold its 26 percent stake in BPL Mobile to a consortium of investors that included Essar Group (9.9 percent) and Mauritius based offshore fund, Asia Pacific Systems. In September 2005, Essar Group increased its stake in BPL mobile to 78% after it acquired the shares of Mr. TPG Nambiar and Mr. Rajiv Chandrashekhar in BPL Communications. It was reported that Essar was in talks with TVG and Aitec to buy their shareholdings in BPL Communications. BPL Mobile achieved financial closure by placing infrastructure bonds worth $70 million with the Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) in August 1998. The cost of the bonds worked out to about 13.5%. The bonds had a five-year tenor and the repayment started after a two-year moratorium. BPL Mobile tied up its equity requirement (US$58 million) and had to finalize the debt portion to achieve financial closure. With the infrastructure bonds in place, the company became one of the first cellular operators in the country to have achieved financial closure. The company was also the first to offer national and international roaming services through an agreement with Iridium in November 1999. The company launched its services in November 1995 in Southern Bombay and had invested US$22.3 million by end of 1996. The license fee for the first three years of operation amounted to a total of US$5.02 million. Thereafter, the fee was US$140 per subscriber per year. In December 2008 the company was renamed as Loop Telecom Private Limited. The Supreme Court on February 2nd, 2012, ordered the cancellation of all the 122 unified access service licences issued in January 2008 by former telecom minister A Raja on account of arbitrary and unconstitutional action taken by the DoT for the grant of UAS (unified access service) licences and allocation of spectrum in 2G band. It also directed the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) to make fresh recommendations for the telecom spectrum auction route in future, within four months. The companies whose licences have been scrapped, were Uninor (22 licenses), Sistema Shyam (21 licenses), S-Tel (6 licenses),Videocon (21 licenses), Idea Cellular (13 licenses), Tata Teleservices (3 licenses), Loop Telecom (21 licenses), Etisalat DB (15 licenses). contract period uncertain and therefore deleted as license has been repeatedly renewed. 2004 and 2005 - investment figures includes investment of BPL Cellular Limited