Telenor earmarks Rs15,500 cr for India; may bid for Mumbai
14 Dec 2012
Norwegian telecom major Telenor ASA has committed investment of Rs15,500 crore in its Indian operations and is likely to bid for 2G spectrum for the Mumbai circle in the next round of spectrum auctions, the company's chief executive Jon Fredrik Baksaas said in Oslo in a briefing on its Indian operations.
The company said that it is "committed to Rs15,500 crore peak funding", but did not give any timeframe for this funding. The company said it expects to reach operating break even by the end of 2013.
The comments from Baksaas come after the union cabinet on Thursday approved a renewed push to sell telecommunication bandwidth, after a muted response to the auction held in November left four key zones unsold.
On 2 February, 22 licences of Uninor, a joint venture between real estate developer Unitech Group and Telenor, were cancelled as part of the Supreme Court's decision to scrap 122 2G licences awarded under dubious practices. The old licences will cease to be operational on 18 January.
Telenor invested Rs4,018 crore to acquire new licences in six circles during the November auction.
Following differences with the Unitech Group, the two have decided to terminate their partnership at the end of the validity of their licences on 18 January.
