Norwegian incumbent Telenor is not currently looking to increase its stake in Indian JV Uninor with real estate group Unitech, according to the Economic Times.
But the company was also reported as saying that it would continue investing in India in order…
Norwegian incumbent Telenor is not currently looking to increase its stake in Indian JV Uninor with real estate group Unitech, according to the Economic Times.
But the company was also reported as saying that it would continue investing in India in order to increase mobile penetration.
A spokesman for the company confirmed to TelecomFinance that “Telenor has no plans to increase [its] stake in Uninor beyond 67.25%” but did not comment on the investment plans.
A month ago, the company announced it was planning several corrective actions for Uninor. These actions include delaying additional capex until revenues improve, focusing on street-level market activities, and improving the distribution model.
The company nonetheless left in place its financial targets, including EBITDA break-even in 2013.
In an email to TelecomFinance, the spokesman for Telenor wrote at the time, “Uninor’s target is still to secure an 8% market share by 2018, be EBITDA positive in three years and cash-flow positive in five years. This has not changed.”
A few weeks before that, Telenor had denied that it was planning to sell Uninor, after reports suggested that investors were in favour of an exit following doubts over the company’s profitability horizon and the expectation of further losses.
“Telenor Group is a long-term participant in the Indian market. We are committed to India and our investment in Uninor,” wrote the spokesman.
Uninor posted a Q2 2010 EBITDA loss of NOK 1.132bn (US$182m), which Telenor said was mainly a result of network operation as well as sales and marketing expenses. For the whole of 2010, the company expects an EBIDTA loss of between NOK 4.5bn (US$760m) and NOK 5bn (US$844m).
Uninor is owned by Telenor (67.25%) and Unitech (32.75%).
