Update: Curiouser and curiouser: Rediff has an interview with Farid Arifuddin of Vavasi Technolgies, particularly questioning him about his political affiliations, connections and proximity to the Congress (I). Business Standard too has more on the company. (via PressTalk) Original Story: Notwithstanding a joint committee set up by Indian PSUs BSNL and MTNL rejecting the proposal to hop on board a consortium that is planning to buy 46% stake in Kuwait-based Zain Telecom, the telcos may be going ahead with the $14 million deal after all, with backing from the minister for IT and telecommunications A.Raja, Business Standard reports. New-Delhi based Vavasi Group’s Telegence division and Malaysian tycoon Syed Mokhtar al-Bukhary heads the consortium which is seeking to gain a foothold in Zain's African operations. Zain had 40.07 million subscribers in 16 African countries in Middle East and Africa as of March 2009. A joint committee was set up to make the decision; it reviewed Vavasi Telegence's financial reports and deemed them unsatisfactory for a deal of this size. This comes close on the heels of the break up of a $23 billion M&A deal between African operator MTN and India's Bharti Airtel. Meanwhile, Essar Teleholdings of Mumbai-based Essar Global is in discussions with Dhabi Group to take over Warid Telecom in Uganda and Congo within 3 months. All is quiet on the RCOM front - the telco had been interested in both Zain and MTN previously. On October 1, BSNL and MTNL jointly wrote to Vavasi group conveying their interest in participating in the…
