Telenor Nears Approval to Increase Indian Investment

India is set to grant Telenor the necessary security clearance to increase its stake in Unitech Wireless to the legal maximum of 74% - but only on the condition that no employees from Telenor's Pakistan subsidiary work for the Indian company.

Telenor is also a majority shareholder in Bangladesh's Grameenphone, but this was not considered to be such a significant security risk.

The Economic Times newspaper notes that the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) was due to approve the investment, but delayed its decision pending a review of the security situation. Keeping the human assets of the Indian and Pakistani arms of Telenor separate is expected to take care of risks such as spying and subversion. The plan is reported to require that any Telenor employee who is, or has ever has worked in Pakistan will be blocked from working in India.

There have also been unconfirmed rumours that Telenor is talking to China Mobile about selling its Pakistan subsidiary to the Chinese firm.

Unitech Wireless has pan-Indian telecommunications licences in all 22 telecom circles, and plans to launch its services in mid 2009.

On the web: Economic Times

Posted to the site on 30th July 2009