Biz News -I

Flying start- Go Air

The fourth low-cost carrier in India, Go Air, took to the air on 4 November. Go Air, promoted by the Wadia group, will offer services to Goa, Ahmedabad, and Coimbatore from Mumbai. Initially, the airline will commence service with one A320 aircraft with a single class, 180-seat configuration, and plans to expand its fleet to 36 aircraft in three years.

VodaFone-Airtel

A little more than two years after it pulled the plug on India, the world's largest mobile company, Vodafone plc, is back. While Air Touch Vodafone had a 21 per cent stake in RPG Cellular (Madhya Pradesh) earlier, this time round, it has picked up a 10 per cent stake in Bharti Tele-Ventures, India's largest mobile operator, for Rs 6,700 crore. It's by far the biggest deal ever in the Indian telecom industry. (See 'Recent Telecom Deals')The £34-billion, UK-based Vodafone, which has 165 million subscribers in 27 countries, has paid Rs 47,652 ($1,083) per Bharti subscriber. That's a lot higher than the Rs 16,296 per subscriber paid by Essar to pick up BPL and the Rs 17,325 per subscriber to pick up Max's 3.16 per cent holding in Hutchison Essar.