The promoters of IPTV and VoIP company Aksh Optifibre have made an open offer to buy back 31,325,227 shares, representing 20% of the total diluted paid up capital at a value of Rs 7 per share. The promoters currently own a 13.23% stake in the company. After the buyback their total stake would increase to 33.23%. Aksh has clarified that the Offer is not due to any global acquisition resulting in indirect acquisition and that the promoters at present have no intention to sell, dispose of or encumber any significant assets of Aksh in the next two years, except in the ordinary course of business. Although the offer was supposed to open on 18th November, the final observations on the draft by SEBI are still awaited, which has led to a delay in the commencement of the said offer. Over the period of one year, the company's share prices have declined from Rs 21.35 to Rs 5.50. Usually, promoters offer buybacks to take advantage of the fall to increase their stock holding. The company's services business which comprises of IPTV (iControl) and VoIP (Pigeon) ventures, which are franchisees for government owned telecom operators BSNL (20 cities in North India) and MTNL (Delhi and Mumbai) witnessed losses amounting to Rs 3.73 crore, during the last quarter. Failure of IPTV in India IPTV has been a non-starter in the Indian market, with a very low connection base, a result of telcos and ISPs not pushing the service aggressively, lack of sufficient bandwidth and low quality of…
