Any market that adds 9.22 million wireless subs in one month and has a tele-density of 30% is going to attract attention. Dubai-based Etisalat, Turkish telecom major Turkcell, Carlos Slim’s America Movil and an un-named European major are competing for a majority stake in the Videocon controlled Datacom, reports ET. The urge to get a piece of the telco pie has reportedly driven up valuations to $3 billion (around Rs 13,000 crore). Etisalat, which has been reportedly courting the deal for a while now, is approaching a dead-end. Videocon currently holds 64% stake in Datacom with Mahendra Nahata holding the remaining 36%. We had earlier reported Datacom’s issues with roll-out, considering creating a pan-India network would cost Datacom 14,000 crores in addition to what its 2008 spends suggest, a strategic partner may be more necessity than strategy.

• AT&T Eyes Strategic Partnership With Videocon’s Datacom