MUMBAI, INDIA: Quippo-WTTIL, the joint venture between the Quippo Telecom Infrastructure (QTIL) and Tata Teleservices Limited’s Wireless TT Info Services Limited (WTTIL) today announced its new entity Viom Networks Limited in Mumbai.

The new entity resulted after courts approved the de-merger proposal of passive infrastructure of the two partner companies, after which both the companies mutually agreed to merge their passive infrastructure businesses.

The Delhi High Court approved Quippo Telecom Infrastructure Limited's (QTIL) passive infrastructure de-merger, while the Andhra Pradesh High Court approved de-merger of Tata Teleservices Limited's (TTSL) passive arm, Wireless TT Info Services Limited (WTTIL).     

Viom Networks Limited, the shared passive telecom infrastructure company, will be run by an independent and professionally managed team from Quippo and has new board members.

Subhodh Bhargava has been appointed as the first independent chairman of the board, while Arun Kapur is the new chief executive officer (CEO) and Probal Ghosal is the deputy CEO and finance head.

According to Sunil Kanoria, Viom Networks Limited’s director, the concept of passive infrastructure sharing was started in 2005 in India and there was a lot of confusion as well as lack of clarity among the telecom operators.

“Started with just 50 towers in September 2005, today we have about 37,000 towers and in coming years there will be some more. In the last one year about 20,000 towers have been built across the country which has the highest tenancy ratio of over 2.2 times. And the 37,000 towers has occupancy of over 80,000 tenants,” Kanoria said.

Further Kanoria added that the shared passive infrastructure business was started with a small investment of Rs..1 crore and in five years' span the joint venture is valued around Rs..20,000 crore.

Kanoria, the member of Kanoria family, is also the vice chairman of SREI Group, which promoted Quippo Telecom.

“Viom will be a perfect blend of WTTIL, which epitomized corporate governance and Quippo Telecom, which represents one of the most professionally managed companies in the telecom infrastructure space,” Anil Sardana, Tata Teleservices’ managing director commented.

“This partnership will help us leverage the best of both the worlds and further strengthen our leadership position in the industry through the combined synergies of both the organizations,” Sardana added.