"We have sought Ernst & Young's advise on the structure of the joint venture, its equity capital and management structure," VSNL sources said. The consultancy will also help the company in forming the information memorandum to be circulated to the prospective partners, they added.VSNL recently invited proposals from domestic as well as multinational telecom companies to be a partner in the venture.

According to sources, the company hopes to finalise the partner soon. Interestingly, VSNL has already held some preliminary negotiations with some of the private cellular operators in the country for formingthe joint venture. VSNL holds the exclusive rights to market ICO Global Communications' range of services in the country and has non-exclusive rights to market the services in Sri Lanka, Nepal, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Mauritius and the Maldives. In addition, VSNL has an agreement to operate and maintain the ICO Global Communications international gateway in India.

Sources said Ernst & Young would also assist VSNL in shortlisting the bids once they are received. "They will help us evaluating the bids and also the strengths of the various partners and the value-addition they will be able to bring into the venture," sources said.

While it is not certain how much the private company will hold in the proposed joint venture, it is understood that VSNL will hold the majority stake. Sources said that ICO Global Communications is likely to hold a minority stake. ICO Global Communications is a joint venture between various international telecom companies.