Etisalat to stop India unit's services by 31 March

Emirates Telecommunications Corp., or Etisalat, Friday said it will stop its mobile phone services in India on March 31, as part of the company's earlier decision to move out of the country.

Etisalat had last month said it would shut Indian unit Etisalat DB Telecom Pvt. Ltd.'s operations, after the Supreme Court ordered scrapping of 122 licenses for second-generation phone services issued to several companies in 2008 on complaints of corruption in their allotment.

The 122 licenses include 15 of Etisalat DB.

Etisalat Friday asked its users to move to other telecom operators using the mobile-number portability facility, which allows users to shift operators while retaining their phone numbers.

Etisalat holds 44.73% of Etisalat DB Telecom Pvt. Ltd., the Indian joint venture in which Majestic Infracon owns 45.73%.

Etisalat bought the stake in the company, then called Swan Telecom Pvt. Ltd., before allegations over the scam broke out but after Swan was awarded the licenses in early 2008.

Source: http://www.totaltele.com/view.aspx?ID=471971