Telenor Denies Claims It Will Sell Indian Subsdiary

Published on: 1st Jan 1970: 1:33am

Norway'­s Telenor has refuted speculation that it is getting cold feet over its Indian subsidiary, Uninor and says that it sees the investment as a long term one. The Bloomberg news agency had reported that some Telenor investors were concerned that the Indian company's plans to become profitable in India within three years were unrealistic.

"Uninor's target is still to secure an 8% market share by 2018 and cash-flow positive in 5 years," Glenn Mandelid, director (communications ), Telenor Group - region Asia told the Economic Times newspaper.

The spokesperson also said that Telenor's Indian venture would be operationally positive in three years: "We are committed to India and our investment in Uninor," Mr Mandelid added.

Telenor took a 67.25% stake in Unitech Wireless for a consideration equivalent to US$1,070 million back in October 2008. In the nine months after its launch, it has racked up $556 million in operating losses and has invested about $800 million on capital expenditure.

In July this year, Uninor accepted the resignation of Stein-Erik Vellan as Managing Director - who was transfered back to a post within Telenor. Sigve Brekke, Head of Telenor Asia Region took over the CEO role at the company.

Uninor has pan-Indian telecommunications licences in all 22 telecom circles.

On the web: Economic Times

 

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