New Delhi: After disrupting the Indian mobile telephony market with cheap data and free calls, making Reliance Jio the undisputed market leader in the country, Mukesh Ambani now plans to take his telecommunications business globally.
Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) is considering an offer for Deutsche Telekom AG's Netherlands business, which may be valued at about $6 billion or Rs 44,700 crore, a move to transform Reliance from an old-economy conglomerate into a technology and e-commerce behemoth.
RIL is working with an adviser to consider a bid for T-Mobile Netherlands BV, Bloomberg reported quoting unnamed sources.
Deliberations are ongoing, no final decision has been made, and there's no certainty Reliance will decide to proceed with a formal offer, said the report.
Mukesh Ambani will throw his hat in the ring, which has received interest from leading private equity firms such as Apax Partners, Apollo Global Management Inc., BC Partners, Providence Equity Partners, and Warburg Pincus.
Deutsche Telekom has appointed Morgan Stanley for the sale of the business.
The firm had already turned down an "unsolicited high-level proposal" from investment firms EQT AB and Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners.
Ambani has already made his intention clear that he wants to expand Reliance's digital unit, Jio Platforms Ltd., internationally in the future. The company received more than $20 billion in funding last year from investors, including Facebook Inc.
Reliance Jio, the four-year-old telecom company, has been voted the fifth strongest brand in the world, behind Ferrari and Coca-Cola, according to Brand Finance's annual study on the most valuable and strongest global brands.
To give wings to its global aspirations, Reliance Jio has set up a subsidiary in Estonia.
Reliance Jio in May said that it is building the world's largest international submarine cable system, centered in India, with worldwide partners and submarine cable supplier Subcom. The corporation wants to develop two underwater cable systems to connect India to Asia Pacific markets via Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia, and the other to Italy, the middle and north Africa region.
Reliance Jio is in the advanced stage of deploying the 5G solution in India to upgrade from 4G and will export the Made in India 5G technology to mobile networks globally. The company is working with leading global partners to develop a full range of 5G capable devices.
A mail sent to RIL seeking a response remained unanswered till the time of publication of this article.
On Tuesday, RIL shares on BSE closed up 0.54% at Rs 2088.4 in a firm Mumbai market, valuing the company at Rs 13,23929 crore.