Infotel Broadband – Nahatas – HFCL – Reliance – Old Nexus Revieved by Mukesh Ambani

For readers who are naive to the field of telecom, here is a brief corporate history of Infotel Broadband Services Private Limited and its promoter Nahata of the Himachal Futurustic Communications Limited group.

In 1995, when the first 2G Wireless Service Licenses were auctioned, HFCL promoted by Maloo and Nahata traders by profession, clueless about Telecom bud for 9 circles at an astounding price of Rs 85,000 cr with almost empty pockets. Then HFCL has caused a loss of Rs 20,000 cr to the Government Exchequer by selecting only 3 licenses of the 9 after corrupt telecom minister Mr. Sukh Ram bailed out the HFCL group. Insiders whispered that The Polyester Prince was backing Mr. Nahata in those ir-rational bids and later quietly moved out of the scene.

Mr. Nahata in 1999-2000 struck a deal with Mumbai Big Bull, Ketan Parekh and rigged HFCL stock price to a dizzy high of Rs 1,450 at which they roped in Kerry Packer to invest $238 mn. Kerry Packer had to later write-off his investment in HFCL.

And today it is rumored in the Analysts circle that Mr. Mukesh Ambani is backing Mr. Nahata, rejuvenating the old nexus. It will be interesting to see how the Infotel Broadband group worth peanuts will cough up USD 2.8 bn license fees for the BWA Spectrum. I hope the CBI and Income Tax investigation officials are on high alert.