The Indian unit of Russian conglomerate Sistema, which is set to lose all but one of its telecom licenses in India, has indicated that it is open to acquisitions.

Vsevolod Rozanov, CEO at Sistema Shyam TeleServices Ltd said that the company will wait until the country's apex court, the Supreme Court of India decides upon the company's appeal relating to an order to revoke the telecom permits.

The Supreme Court of India had scrapped the validity of all 122 spectrum licenses in February that were granted to telecom firms during the former communications minister A Raja's time in office. The court cancelled all the licenses on the ground they were issued in a "totally arbitrary and unconstitutional" manner. Sistema Shyam will lose its permits in January as per the court order.

Some reports indicated that Sistema is in talks to acquire country's seventh-biggest mobile phone operator by customers, Aircel. Sistema Shyam TeleServices, which operates under the MTN brand in India, said that its unaudited consolidated revenues have fallen 3.3 per cent to Rs. 4,040 million or about USD 73 million in the third quarter of the year.