Telenor Group: Uninor Operations To Continue In India
February 03 2012 - 6:43AM
Dow Jones News
Telenor ASA (TEL.OS) will continue operating its Indian joint
venture, Unitech Wireless Ltd., and fight to "protect our lawful
investments," the Norwegian telecom company said Friday, responding
to a court order to cancel the licenses of Unitech Wireless and
several other companies.
"We are looking to the government to arrive at a fair solution,"
Telenor said in a statement.
India's Supreme Court Thursday ordered cancellation of 122
telecom licenses, including 22 of Unitech Wireless, saying the
process followed to allocate the licenses and bandwidth was an
"arbitrary and unconstitutional exercise," which facilitated
corruption. The order will be effective after four months.
Telenor is the second largest foreign investor in the country's
telecom sector, after U.K.'s Vodafone Group PLC.
Oslo-based Telenor ventured into India by acquiring a 67.3%
stake for INR60.0 billion in Unitech Wireless, which was founded by
local real-estate company Unitech Ltd. (507878.BY). The venture had
36.30 million users at the end of December and provides services
under the Uninor brand.
Telenor said the Norwegian government, which owns 53.97% of the
telecom company, is monitoring the developments post the judgment
and will help "find solutions to secure Telenor's investments and
presence in India."
-By R.Jai Krishna, Dow Jones Newswires, +91.11.4356.3333;
krishna.jai@dowjones.com
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