The Hindu Business Line reports that the two companies have held initial rounds of discussions and will make a decision after the rules for the countries' upcoming 2G spectrum auctions are passed.
The companies reportedly discussed merging Telenor’s Indian subsidiary, Uninor, with Tata Teleservices or for Telenor to acquire NTT DoCoMo’s stake in Tata Teleservices, partially or fully.
Tata Teleservices and NTT DoCoMo agreed a call option four years ago allowing NTT to increase its 26% stake to 49% or sell it back to Tata if the company does not reach certain performance targets.
These targets may have been missed according to sources speaking to The Hindu Business Line, giving NTT reason to abandon the company.
Telenor, which has been seeking an Indian partner after blaming Unitech for the loss of Uninor’s 2G licences earlier this year, is also said to be considering a partnership with Viom, a joint venture between Tata Teleservices and Srei Infrastructure.
