At&t to re-enter Indian market with Videocon

AT&T , the biggest U.S. phone company, said it will be re-enter in India’s mobile-phone industry to add customers in the world’s fastest-growing major market for wireless services.

“We are very serious about that market,” Bernard Yee, Asian regional MD, told reporters in a briefing in Hong Kong. He declined to say whether the company will start their own wireless operation in India, or pursue an acquisition.

It may be noted that AT&T exited India’s wireless market in 2004 by selling a stake in Idea Cellular Ltd. Comapany which is seeking growth in overseas businesses to counter the saturating U.S. Market for residential fixed-line services. India gained 8.77 million wireless users for January, more than China’s 8.48 million.

San Antonio-based AT&T is interested in acquiring a stake in Videocon Industries Ltd.’s Datacom Solutions Pvt Ltd., which has a mobile-phone license in India, according to unconfirmed sources. The transaction may be completed within weeks.

Yee declined to comment on this report, and didn’t provide any timeframe for AT&T’s plans in India. The U.S. company is said to be waiting for the Indian government approval for its application of a mobile-phone license, filed in October.

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