Indian Telecom and Finance leaders to converge in Mumbai

India’s telecom leaders are meeting with investment bankers, investors and advisers in Mumbai to debate new growth strategies at the TMT Finance and Investment India Conference on October 18.

The conference, which is part of the acclaimed TMT Finance global series, takes place at a critical juncture for the Indian telecom industry as regulatory and economic uncertainty is driving major players to review strategy.

Amanda Hale, Partner, TMT Group, at global law firm Herbert Smith, who will be making a keynote speech at the conference said: “In addition to spiralling profits, major disputes, both between players and at government level, are on the rise.  In response, telcos are adopting a range of strategies including focussing on cost reduction, expanding into new business areas and new regions, asset disposals and consolidation.”

The conference features a series of leadership panel discussion, visionary keynote speeches and targeted networking sessions. Key industry speakers announced so far include: Gurdeep Singh, President and CEO Wireless, Reliance Communications; Devender Singh Rawat, CEO BhartiInfratel; Srinivasa Addepalli, CSO, Tata Communications; Amit Sharma, President Asia, American Tower; and Arun Kapur, Group President and Managing Director, Quippo Telecom.

Other institutions represented on the speaker academy include Apax Partners, Analysys Mason, Booz & Company, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, GSMA, IFC, The World Bank, DBS Group, Standard Chartered, Hathway Cable &Datacom, ING, Nokia Siemens Networks, Viom Networks and Uninor. More speakers will be announced shortly.

“Major players in the Indian telco sector are increasingly present on the world stage and are at the forefront of many developments so it makes absolute sense for Herbert Smith to be speaking at and sponsoring the first TMT Finance& Investment India conference,” said Hale. “We're looking forward to a day of insights into strategies both for exploiting opportunities as well as facing challenges and plenty of good discussion."

Conference sessions include: The Telecom Leadership Roundtable; The M&A Panel; Spectrum and Policy; CFO Round Table; Raising Finance for Indian Telecoms and the Mobile Infrastructure Leaders Round Table.