Russian services conglomerate Sistema has increased its equity stake in the Indian mobile operator Shyam Telelink Limited to 73.71 percent from 72 percent.

Sistema, majority owned by billionaire Vladimir Yevtushenkov, acquired 51% stake in Shyam Telelink earlier in the year and got into into a call option contract, which gave it the right to increase its holding stake to a maximum of 74%.

Moreover, Shyam Telelink has received radio frequencies under CDMA 800 MHz in four additional Indian circles including Gujarat, Karnataka, Kolkata and Orissa, which comprise 14.1% of Indian population (159.6 million people).

Accordingly, Shyam Telelink now has spectrum in 19 telecom circles, which covers up 27 Indian states with a population of 1.07 billion people (about 94.5% of Indian population).

Recently, Shyam Telelink got the Unified Access Service License, or UASL allowing it to provide telecoms services throughout the country.

Sistema, which presently holds 73.71% stake in Shyam Telelink, has the right to increase its stake to a maximum of 74%. The conglomerate plans to invest between $4 billion and $7 billion to expand the Indian operator.

Shyam Telelink provides CDMA services in the western Indian state of Rajasthan, and in January received licenses to provide services in the remaining 21 zones of India. The tie-up is also expanding in the CDMA space in the country.