In the race?

New York, Jan. 3 (PTI): The battle for control of Hutch- Essar may become even more high-profile with a prospective buyer from the US telecom space joining the list of potential bidders doing the rounds.

So far, UK’s Vodafone group and Reliance Communications are the only two potential bidders to have made public their interest in acquiring Hutch-Essar.

However, the Ruias and Malaysia’s Maxis Communications are also reported to have made indicative offers for the 67 per cent stake held by the foreign partner Hong Kong-based Hutchison Telecom International.

Meanwhile, there have been reports about Egypt’s Orascom, Qatar Telecom and a consortium of private equity funds mulling their respective bids for Hutch-Essar.

Verizon Communications, which has a market capitalisation of more than $108 billion on NYSE, is the latest name being churned out by rumour mills for the prized Indian firm.

While a spokesperson of the US firm said it was the company's policy not to comment on “this kind of speculation”, industry sources said the move could be strategically important for Verizon as the US market was near a saturation level and the Indian market offers great growth opportunities.

Incidentally, Verizon Communications offers wireless services in the US through Verizon Wireless, a joint venture with Vodafone, one of the interested parties for Hutch Essar.

The Verizon spokesperson also declined to comment on queries related to whether a potential bid would be in partnership with Vodafone or could it go solo.

Meanwhile, international media reports said questions are being raised over the continuation of the joint venture between Vodafone and Verizon in the US.

The British telecom firm owns a 45 per cent stake in Verizon Wireless. The joint venture has 56.7 million customers and revenues of more than $32 billion.

London-based The Times newspaper reported last weekend that questions over Vodafone's commitment to the American market have been revived by a potential $22 billion sale of Alltel, the fifth-biggest mobile operator in the US.