REACHING OUT

New Delhi, June 18: Telecom firm Shyam Group and IT services company Spanco Telesystems have formed a joint venture to acquire Spectranet, the Internet service provider division of Punj Lloyd, for an undisclosed amount.

The joint venture firm will be called Citycom Networks. The deal is expected to be closed over the next few months and is subject to statutory and regulatory clearances, a company statement said.

Kapil Puri, chairman of Spanco Telesystems, said “This joint venture to acquire Spectranet aligns with the business model and expansion plans of our company. This will mark Spanco’s entry into telecom network operations.”

The new promoters of Spectranet plan to create telecom infrastructure for the next generation wireline and wireless broadband.

An investment of Rs 500 crore has been earmarked for the first phase of expansion of the Spectranet network from the existing three to 10 cities, adding Chennai, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Pune and Hyderabad to the network.

Spectranet is the first private network convergence service provider. It was formed in 1995 and employs 350 people across Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai. It was among the first Internet service providers to offer a range of services, including corporate and retail broadband Internet, Internet data centre, managed optic fibre management, cable TV solutions, CAS TV and value-added services.

Meanwhile, reports said Russian conglomerate Sistema had increased its stake in Shyam Telelink to 73.71 per cent from 72 per cent. It had earlier acquired a 51 per cent stake in Shyam Telelink and entered into a call option agreement giving it the right to raise its stake to a maximum 74 per cent.