SC telecom verdict fallout

Less than a week after the Supreme Court cancelled 121 telecom licences on charges of irregularity, Bahrain-based Batelco announced it is quitting India. Batelco and its foreign associates together hold a 49% stake in their Indian joint venture—S Tel, which operates in six circles and was one of the companies affected by the order. S Tel’s Indian partner C Sivasankaran will buy out the shares for $225 million, the same price the Bahraini company paid when it entered India in January 2009. S Tel was originally promoted by entrepreneur Santosh Robert, who sold it to Sivasankaran in June 2009.