Virgin fancies Indian summer

The big rumour doing the rounds on Friday is that Virgin Mobile is set to enter the burgeoning Indian mobile market via a 50-50 partnership with local operator, Tata TeleServices.

Tata is India’s sixth largest mobile operator with 12 million subscribers at the end of April. The operator runs a CDMA network, a technology Virgin is already familiar with through its MVNO partnerships in the US and Canada.

Although no official announcement has been made, it is expected that the Indian deal will follow Virgin’s typical 50-50 MVNO joint venture strategy. If all goes well, some reports suggest an announcement could be made this quarter.

The Indian mobile market is booming, with around 160 million subscribers at the end of April and a further 5 million or so added every month.

Earlier this year, Vodafone splashed out $11bn on the acquisition of fourth placed Indian mobile operator, Hutchison Essar.