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Hutchison Max to merge cellular and paging operations

According to a company spokesperson, currently the two operations are carried out in separate and independently empowered business divisions.

"There are apparent synergies in merging the cellular and paging operations

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together with the obvious locational issues and many other not so obvious advantages and disadvantages.

"The management will take steps most appropriate to achieve its objectives of continuing to be a preferred cellular and paging telecom service provider to its subscribers, while simultaneously enhancing share holder value,'' he said.

The company operates its cellular business in Bombay and has a paging license for Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Vadodra, Ahmedabad and Punjab.

One of the key reasons provided for the merger is that "in a progressive and professional environment, continuous management thought is directed towards optimisation of business and processes, in order to achieve increasingly greater levels of customer satisfaction, which ensures consistent and improving profitability,'' the spokesperson said.

According to market sources, once the two businesses are merged, the company will move its paging division, currently headquartered in Bangalore to Bombay, where the cellular operation is centred.

Currently, both cellular and paging operations have their own chief executives. The sources say the company is yet to firm up whether the two executives would continue to operate independently or the company will prefer to have one chief executive in charge of both operations.

The sources say there may not be any short-term advantage for the company in merging its two operations. They say unlike RPG, which is providing both cellular and paging services in Madras, Hutchison's paging and cellular operations are scattered in different cities.

In fact, sources in RPG agree that the company has not had much of an advantage in combining both its operations in Madras. "Because we hold the licence for both services, we have been able to have a single channel of distribution and marketing. For Hutchison even this is out of question as its operations are scattered across different cities.''

- Compiled from the Indian media

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