Norwegian incumbent Telenor has denied that it is planning to exit Uninor, its JV with Indian real estate group Unitech.
In an email to TelecomFinance, a spokesman for Telenor wrote, “Uninor’s target is still to secure an 8% market share by 2018, be…
Norwegian incumbent Telenor has denied that it is planning to exit Uninor, its JV with Indian real estate group Unitech.
In an email to TelecomFinance, a spokesman for Telenor wrote, “Uninor’s target is still to secure an 8% market share by 2018, be EBITDA positive in 3 years and cash-flow positive in 5 years. This has not changed. Telenor Group is a long-term participant in the Indian market. We are committed to India and our investment in Uninor.” Uninor is 67.25% owned by Telenor and 32.75% by Unitech.
A previous report from Bloomberg stated that investors expressed doubts regarding Uninor’s plans to become profitable within the next three years and that the Indian venture would continue to lose money. Some investors were quoted as saying that leaving India might be a solution.
Uninor posted a EBITDA loss of NOK 1.132bn (US$182m) for the second quarter of 2010, which according to Telenor was mainly driven by network operation as well as sales and marketing expenses. The Indian venture also reported capital expenditure of NOK 364m (US$58m), which Telenor said was mainly related to network rollout in five additional circles. For the same period a year ago, it reported a EBITDA loss of NOK 80m (US$12m) and capex of NOK 424m (US$68m).
