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Mobile service provider Spice Communications is set to sell its tower arm to Srei Infrastructure. The deal is estimated to be worth around Rs 500 crore.Following the deal the towers may be added to Srei’s subsidiary Quipo Telecom, a standalone tower company. Spice has also said that it was availing loans for upto $400 million from Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking, another $410 million from China Development Bank for expanding its networks in Karnataka and Punjab, the two circles where it currently offers mobile services.

Mcorp Chairman,BK Modi, said that the contract deal was not yet completed.Moreover Srei is the front-runner to bag its its towers.And with the $810 million loan, the company may expands its operation in Punjab and Karnataka.Spice joins hands with other leading telcos such as Airtel, Idea, Vodafone, Tata and Relience Communications who have hived off their tower arm. Spice has about 875 towers in the two telecom circles combined. The company also becomes the first company to completely sell off its tower arm.

Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India, has got the approval from the regulator Insurance Regulatory Development Authority (IRDA) for its health insurance policy ‘LIC Health Plus’ which would be launched by February,2008.The product was actually to be launched in last week of December,2007, but has been postponed partly due to the delay in regulatory approval.

Unlike the cashless transaction model followed by competitors, LIC’s product would be based on the lines of floater plan, which would give the policyholder the option to receive lumpsum, which means claims claims could be made for even treatment undergone at home. The additional feature would be domiciliary claim, where a patient taking treatment at home will be reimbursed as the person submits the complete bills.The sources said that unlike the current mediclaim products offered by the general insurance companies that cover the insured hospitalisation expenses and are annual in nature, LIC would pay the insured a predetermained lumpsum amount, depending upon his premium payment. The company has claimed that the present cashless model is not in favour of the customer as many hospitals were not accepting the facility.Moreover, in many cases hospitals are charging more if a patient comes with an insurance cover that offers cashless treatment.

LIC Executive Director, D.D.Singh said that Insurance Regulatory Development Authority (IRDA) has accepted to launch health insurance products.This long term comprehensive health insurance products would be launched in the second week of February,2008.LIC is targeting to provide health cover to close to 1 crore families in the first year of the launch of the product and expects over Rs 5,000 crore of revenues. LIC’s product will also be a long-term product of over 10 years. The product is excepted to be marketed in a big way through all distribution channels of LIC, including its over 10 lakh agents.

Chennai based networking company, Gemini Communications Ltd (GCL) has partnered with Midas Communication Technology Pvt Ltd for a Rs 260 crore BSNL order for the implementation and deployment of the Enhanced Digital Wireless Access System (EDWAS) with broadband internet access across Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Haryana.

Of the Rs 260 crore order, Gemini has bagged the Rs 200 crore order from Midas for the implementation of the EDWAS project on the turnkey basis.The BSNL tender envisages supply, installation and commissioning of 134 Base Station Sites in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Haryana for the purpose of providing voice and broadband data services.

According to the Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) entered into with Midas, Gemini will be implementing and deploying the BSNL projects within the period of 150 days. Midas ia a player in the telecom market focusing on design, development and marketing of innovation and cost effective access solutions.

Shirish Purohit, CEO of Midas said that Gemini’s expertise and ground level presence in the regions fulfill their needs for a quality network rollout ina time-bound fashion. And they are looking for the long term synergies in their relationship with GCL.And moreover Gemini Communications is playing a larger role in our network rollouts not only in domestic markets but also in the overseas network implementation.

Vijay Kumar, Chairman and Managing Director of Gemini Communications Ltd (GCL), said that it is the largest order bagged by GCL. And they will be deploying senior technology and project management experts as also skilled RF implementation and network engineers for expediting the performance of work.