Telenor’s plan to pick up stake in Tata Teleservices — owned by the Tatas and Japan’s NTT DoCoMo — signals consolidation and the likely exit of Uninor brand in India.
The move, yet to be officially announced, reflects the Nordic region’s biggest phone operator’s interest in ensuring its investment in India, the second largest mobile subscriber market in the world.
By spending Rs 4,018 crore, Telenor bagged telecom circles such as Uttar Pradesh East, Uttar Pradesh West, Bihar, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh and Maharashtra (excluding Mumbai). It does not have any lucrative circles such as Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai.
Uninor, the Indian subsidiary of Telenor, has posted 3.1 percent increase in third quarter revenues to 863 million Norwegian crowns from 837 million Norwegian crowns in the same quarter last year. This is despite Uninor reducing its telecom business significantly in India following the spectrum controversies.
TTSL, a dual technology service provider, is not the best option for Telenor that won six circles in the recently concluded 2G spectrum auction. TTSL is yet to offer tough competition to players like Airtel, Idea Cellular and Vodafone and gain market share.
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