Public sector player RailTel is lining up a Rs 700 crore initial public offer (IPO) early next year, valuing the company at around Rs 3,000 crore. This is a part of the government's disinvestment programme.
The IPO has been in the works for over a year now but given the government's slow appointment process and the required number of independent directors still not on board, the building blocks are still being put in place.
Puneet Chawla, CMD, RailTel said that the Covid-related restrictions had helped boost the company's business, with the prospects looking up in the coming months. The miniratna PSU is one of the largest neutral telecom infrastructure providers in the country, owning an optical fibre network on exclusive Right of Way (RoW) along the railway tracks. It also provides broadband telecom and multimedia networks across the country.
He added, “Railwire, which is a broadband service, has grown by around two-and-a-half times in the last 8-9 months. “We will continue to grow exponentially. Similarly, we have dedicated leased line service which has been provided to various institutions, including 722 universities and colleges. Now, this service will have to be provided to other institutions as they require this. We see tremendous demand and we will be upgrading our network capacity.”
He didn't share any details on the size of the IPO.
