Videocon, HFCL agree to resolve Datacom dispute

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Videocon, HFCL agree to resolve Datacom dispute

Datacom promoters -- Videocon and Himachal Futuristic Communications Ltd or HFCL -- have agreed to resolve their dispute over valuations amicably. Commenting on the same, Mahendra Nahata, Chairman, HFCL said, “We are trying to work amicably.”

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However, Rajkumar Dhoot, CEO, Datacom refused to comment, but said Datacom will talk to media soon

Datacom which has got nationwide mobile license and spectrum in many circles, is a mobile joint venture or JV between Nahata and Dhoot.

Desperate to get the launch plans back on track, Videocon's Dhoot family and Nahata of HFCL, were trying hard to compromise over Datacom few months back. The dispute between the two promoters had not only delayed the launch of Datacom's cellular services by at least four months, but also drove away prospective international investors from picking up a stake in the company.

Here is a verbatim transcript of Siddharth Zarabi's comments on CNBC-TV18. Also watch the accompanying video.

Datacom was one of the new set of operators, which was licensed earlier this year by the Department of Telecom (DoT) and this company has major plans to do nation wide launches. Unfortunately, for the promoters there was a major dispute over valuations and the joint venture (JV) got stuck, and the number of key executives left the group.

We now learn that both the Nahatas and the Dhoot family of Videocon, have been talking for sometime now. Tensions between the two groups have evaporated. In fact, today at the launch of Bharat Sanchar Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) services for the first time in the recent past, a member of the Dhoot family, Raj Kumar Dhoot, was present, at the same event where Mahendra Nahata was unveiling the IPTV services. Dhoot, however, refused to comment on this and said that Datacom may talk to the press very shortly, but Nahata did say that both groups were trying to resolve this amicably. He indicated within a period of 2-3 days but that is possibly little too early.

Datacom has already invested close to Rs 2,000 crore on winning the licenses. They have got spectrum for almost 10-12 circles, so this is a company which is in position to start services as soon as is possible. But, because of the shareholder dispute, all this significant amount of capital was locked in and both promoters are trying to unlock this and derive value.