Norway’s Telenor said it will not withdraw from India following the loss of several of its 2G licences.
The statement came in reaction to earlier suggestions that the company might leave the country following yesterday’s decision by India’s…
Norway’s Telenor said it will not withdraw from India following the loss of several of its 2G licences.
The statement came in reaction to earlier suggestions that the company might leave the country following yesterday’s decision by India’s Supreme Court to cancel 122 2G licences.
These frequency licences were illegally granted by former telecoms minister A. Raja in 2008, the court found. Telenor’s Indian JV Uninor is particularly affected by the ruling, with 22 of its licences to be revoked within the next four months.
In an emailed statement to TelecomFinance, the Norwegian company explained that “our intention is to fight to protect our lawful investments in the country. We are looking to the government to arrive at a fair solution.”
It added that the Norwegian government is “monitoring the situation and will actively contribute to find solutions to secure Telenor’s investments and presence in India.”
This contradicts an earlier media report quoting CEO Jon Fredrik Baksaas as saying that exiting the Indian market was a possible alternative.
In a research summary, Nomura said that “a near-term exit will screen unfavourably for Telenor” because an NPV [net present value] scenario analysis “will treat Uninor’s invested capital as largely sunk given the limited disposal value of both its network and customer base.”
Telenor currently owns 67.25% of Uninor while Indian real estate company Unitech controls the remaining stake. The JV is currently number eight in the country out of 15 telcos.
