Russian telecom's Indian arm raises 1280 crore

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Russian telecom major Sistema on Thursday said its Indian arm -- Sistema Shyam TeleServices (SSTL) -- has raised Rs.1,280 crore from Deutsche Bank for scaling up its operations in the country.

SSTL which operates its telecom services under the MTS brand has over 15 million wireless customers.

"It was quite challenging to raise such significant funds with such long tenor under current uncertain regulatory environment in India, but business has to continue and grow," said Sergey Savchenko, chief financial officer of Sistema Shyam Teleservices.

The entire amount of Rs.1,280 crore has been received by SSTL and the 8-year debt is payable by 2019.

The company had in September raised a Rs.920 crore loan from Barclays Bank and ICICI Bank.

"We are planning to utilize the proceeds to further scale up our telecom operations and repayment of maturing loan," Savchenko added.

Sistema holds a 56.68 per cent stake in the venture, while the Russian government holds 17.14 per cent and the Shyam Group of India has another 23.98 per cent. The remaining 2.2 is publicly owned.