Telekom Malaysia is considering an initial public offering, IPO, of India's Spice Communications, in which it owns a 49% stake, the chief executive of the Malaysian mobile phone operator, Telekom Malaysia Bhd., said on Wednesday, reports Dow Jones Newswires.

"When we look at the expansion plans of Spice, we look at options to fund the expansion," Abdul Wahid Omar told reporters. "Apart from entering the debt market, one of the options will be to tap funds from the equity market."

Spice Communications is one of the major mobile phone service providers in the states of Punjab and Karnataka in India. Spice Telecom, the brand name of Spice Communications, is a flagship company of MCorp, a pioneer in introducing mobile telephone services to India. Spice Communications is currently in the process of obtaining licenses to provide mobile services in six new areas, as well as National Long Distance and International Long Distance licences.

Telekom Malaysia, TM, is one of the largest listed companies on Bursa Malaysia and offers a broad variety of communication services and solutions for fixed-line, mobile, data and broadband. Through TM International, TM currently operates and invests in a number of countries around Asia and worldwide including Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Cambodia and Singapore.