Are Mukesh and Anil Ambani feeling bhai-bhai again?

Are Mukesh and Anil Ambani about to become smile-happy, back-slapping brothers again?

The Economic Times reported that Reliance Industries, owned by India’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, is likely to use the tower and fibre optic cables of Reliance Communications, owned by younger brother Anil, to provide high-speed data services.If that happens, it will be the first time the two brothers will team up after their highly public split and break-up of the mega business empire their father, Dhirubhai Ambani, created. Wonder what’s causing the change of heart here? And will there be a reconciliation between the two business groups?

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Observers note that it is step two in a possible warming of relations between the two siblings: in May last year, the two ended a non-compete agreement that had been in place for five years, allowing Mukesh’s group re-entry into the telecom sector.

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The RIL-RCom deal will not involve any equity investment on the part of RIL.

RIL has ambitious plans to venture into the telecom sector with 4G and broadband services. “The first wave will see consumers being targeted with plug-in USB modems, set top boxes that offer TV channels, indoor and outdoor modems and a few tablet PCs. Apart from Notion Ink, Reliance is understood to be in advanced negotiations with two Taiwanese brands to procure customised mass-market tablets priced around Rs. 8,000 to Rs. 9,000, “ a story in Forbes magazine said. The tablets are likely to be jointly developed with Reliance Communications. The first phase of services will be launched around June 2012, the magazine added.

The brothers are not the only ones making business headlines: on Tuesday,Mukesh’s wife, Nita, was appointed as non-executive director to the board of East India Hotels, which runs the Oberoi and Trident brands of hotels in India.

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Mukesh Ambani entered the picture earlier by picking up an 14 percent stake in this hotels group as a kind of white knight to ward off the designs of ITC Hotels, which also has a significant stake.

So, it is quite possible that Nita Ambani is merely there to signal an Ambani presence, rather than an intent to take charge. But since the Oberois and the Ambanis have announced plans to work together on some projects, the Nita Ambani entry on the EIH board is not merely ornamental, as a Firstpost story recently noted.

One thing you can be sure of, Mukesh, Anil and Nita will have the rumour mills working overtime.