The Tatas plan to pump in Rs 13,000 crore in the next three to four years to expand its telecommunications business in India.

“It (the investment) can be anything up to Rs 25,000 crore in three-four years, including the investment that has already been made which is Rs 10,000 crore to Rs 12,000 crore,” J J Irani (pictured), director of Tata Sons, the Tata group holding company, told reporters here.

The Tatas expect a shakeout in the telecom space eventually with only four-five players surviving including BSNL, Reliance, Bharti and Tatas, he said.

Irani said: “The Tata group is placing a high level of importance on telecom in the coming years. Over the past few decades, the Tatas developed the steel, power and automobiles verticals. In the coming decade, we feel telecom will be a growth driver and we plan to invest close to Rs 25,000 crore in this sector.”

He added that there will be a shakeout in the sector and only around 4-5 players will be left to service customers and Tatas will be there among the companies.

Talking on a range of other issues on the Tata group of companies, Irani said the group was pursuing an aggressive strategy to take the Tata companies on to a global stage.

“TCS, Tata Motors, Tata Steels are already making a mark in a global context and we will continue efforts to make the Tata brand globally known as well known as in India,” he remarked.

On steel prices, he said the industry would see a prices ranging between $350 and $400 per MT over the next couple of years and one can expect this to peak in 2008.

“Usually on a five-year cycle, prices fluctuate and we have seen prices move up to $700 and fall to $250 on the low end of the cycle. As I see them, prices should stabilise at $350,” he added.

On the delays over setting up a steel plant at Kalinga Nagar, Irani said that depending on the iron leases, they will be setting up a 10 million tonne plant at an investment of Rs 20,000-30,000 crore over several phases.

“In the first phase, 2.5-3 million tonne capacity will be put up and we intend to scale this up to 10 million tonne in four phases,” he noted.

He also added that the group’s DTH foray in a joint venture with Star TV was expected to kick off during April-June 2006.

(www.business-standard.com)