Mumbai: Unitech Ltd, the second-biggest listed developer in the country, said it would dilute 26 per cent stake in its telecom arm to a strategic foreign partner. The company is currently in discussions with a few telcos.

''We are looking for a minority dilution of 26 per cent stake to a strategic foreign player in Unitech Wireless," Unitech Ltd managing director Sanjay Chandra said.

Unitech was one among the many who were received unified licences from the Department of Telecom earlier this year.

Unitech Wireless, which has bagged a pan-India GSM licence, has got spectrum for five circles and the company is planning to roll out telecom services by the last quarter of the current financial year.

Chandra said Unitech is targeting the Mumbai market and expects the city to contribute half of its revenue in two years.

''On a similar piece of land we get much more money in Mumbai than in Delhi,'' he said, adding, ''We will get 50 per cent of our revenue from Mumbai in two years' time."

Unitech, he said, is looking to raise over $1 billion over the next 12 months, which will include funding Mumbai projects. ''For the Mumbai projects, we would raise $700-800 million of PE over the next few quarters," Chandra added.

Unitech recently raised $175 million by selling a 50 per cent stake in a Mumbai project to Lehman Brothers' real estate fund. It plans to launch its first Mumbai residential project in six months.

Unitech reported a 50 per cent drop in its consolidated net profit for the quarter ended 31 March 2008, at Rs360 crore against Rs748 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. Total income fell from Rs1,627 crore last year to Rs1,197 crore.