India's Uninor Cuts Off Around 1.8 Million Customers in Mumbai

Published on: 17th Feb 2013

­India's Uninor has shut-down its network in Mumbai following an order from the Supreme Court. The company lost its licenses last February, but had been unable to secure a replacement covering the city.

A very brief statement on the company's customer facing website confirmed that it would comply with the court order at Midnight on Saturday.

Based on the latest figures from the TRAI, the company had just over 1.8 million customers in the city at the end of 2012.

"We have pursued every alternative possible to continue our operations in Mumbai until the new auction takes place. Now the Court has ordered an immediate closure of operations and no temporary license too is available to allow a gradual process. Unfortunately, we have no choice now but to follow the Court's order and close down our network immediately," said Sigve Brekke, Managing Director of Uninor.

Uninor was backed by Telenor until their fractious split after the licenses were cancelled, and Telenor has since set up a new company Telewings, but it did not win a license in Mumbai during last years re-auction of radio spectrum.

Operations in six circles of Maharashtra and Goa, Gujarat, UP East, UP West, Bihar and Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh will continue as fresh spectrum for 20 years has already been secured.

The company said that it will also engage with its business partners to evaluate the possibility of redeploying network infrastructure to other circles such as Maharashtra, Goa and Gujarat where Uninor operations are continuing.

 

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