Vodafone and Essar to resume talks in 10 days

16 February 2007

New Delhi: Vodafone will resume discussions with Essar on issues like management and share structure within the next week or 10 days, including the differences in the interpretation of the contentious issue of "right of first refusal."

Yesterday Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin called on the Ruia brothers, Shashi and Ravi, the chairman and vice chairman of the Essar Group.

Sarin had arrived in India on Wednesday with an offer to buy out Indian partner Essar at the same terms given to Hutchison Telecom for its 67-per cent stake in the mobile firm but ruled out paying a premium for picking up Essar's 33-per cent stake in Hutch-Essar.

Though the Essar Group had expressed unhappiness with Vodafone for not consulting it on the network infrastructure sharing agreement with rival Bharti Airtel, Sarin justified the network sharing agreement with Bharti.

Sarin said, "We were working on a real time basis. Essar also made an offer when we made an offer (for buying out Hutchison`s 67-per cent stake) and since we were involved in disengagement talks with Bharti, we also signed this MoU."