![Uninor Offers Cheapest 2G Data Plans [June 2013]](http://telecomtalk.info/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Uninor-GPRS-packs-70x70.jpg?80e5e9)
Earlier we shared that joint venture of Telenor and Unitech is going to see an end, as Telenor is to form a new company with new Indian partner to offer mobile services in the country.
Current laws do not allow the Norwegian telecom giant to have a 100% owned Indian subsidiary and hence Telenor is in talks with several Indian companies to tie the knot for the upcoming 2G auction.
Telenor is to take 74% of the new venture and rest 26% will be for Indian partners. Telenor is open to have more than one Indian partner.
Telenor also made it clear that it will control all the assets – the entire network, the towers, customers and the entire business operations of Uninor and ensures the smooth transition of the assets to new JV.
According to ET News, the possible Indian companies could be Sterlite Industries which is a subsidiary of London based metal group Vedanta Resources and Kolkata based Srei Infrastructure who owns tower company Viom Networks (earlier Tata-Quippo).
Sterlite Industries is one of the companies who applied in 2007-2008 to enter Indian mobile market but fails to do so during A. Raja’s regime. They are in metal, mining, oil and gas and have no problem to fund the joint venture with Telenor. It should be noted that Telenor clears that their new partner do not need to have any experience on telecom. With a partner like Sterlite, Telenor will not need to think about money.
Srei Infra owns Viom Networks, a passive infrastructure provider which in turn has more than 40,000 telecom towers in India, which means Telenor will have a rapid network expansion mode with Srei Infra. Most new players are on leasing towers to speed up their coverage expansion; with a tower company in the venture Telenor will be happy to be with Srei Infra.
Now apart from these two companies any company which fails to obtain license and spectrum in 2008 may like to join hands with Telenor. In 2007 there were 21 companies applied to DoT to get 2G spectrum. It could be steel tycoon Jindal’s JSW Power Trading Company, Hinduja promoted HTMT Telecom Private Ltd, Spice/Modi promoted Cellebrum, Moser Baer Infrastructure Ltd, Vasai Group’s Next Generation Telecommunications India Pvt. Ltd (who planned to bring TD-SCDMA based mobile services in India) and others who are in the queue.
Following the decision of end of JV, Telenor sends a notice of ‘divorce’ to Unitech and seeks compensation for damages caused by the recent SC judgement as Unitech Wireless grabbed pan India license in 2008 and later Telenor bought shares in it and invested around 14000 cr. Unitech reacts that on the basis of ‘non compete clause’ on share holding agreement Telenor can not start their own JV until the current JV is broken down.
The relation between these two companies takes a downfall after Unitech head was arrested in the 2G scam.
Raghu March 4, 2012 at 12:56 am
@Jagan T
yes uninor should choose a operator with some telecom experience.
MTS Kerala User March 3, 2012 at 11:33 pm
Ujala (Jyothy Laboratories )if they want to diversify(name too is someway close). Or VGuard as they are more trust worthy.
All other companies mentioned have too many businesses & sometimes debt too.
Jagan T February 27, 2012 at 11:39 am
A serious idea: Why dont it could be TelecomTalk……?
Members/Readers please think about it.
RDB February 27, 2012 at 11:39 am
@Tharun George
RIL do believe in majority stake in any venture, so with this T&C Telenor & RIL tie up is ruled out.
Jagan T February 27, 2012 at 11:36 am
Telenor should choose the partner with at least some exposure in the telecom services sector.
Kapil February 26, 2012 at 11:57 pm
telenor will be reverce to compete with airtel that is “NorTel”.
Merc February 26, 2012 at 6:52 pm
NorCel or MobiNor feels better
dinesh February 26, 2012 at 6:49 pm
partner with univercell the mobile retail chain and keep the old name uninor. saves millions as rebranding is not necessary. just joking.
ashish February 26, 2012 at 3:45 pm
@rahulraj
celnor looking best
AMIT JOSHI February 26, 2012 at 11:20 am
@rahulraj
good thinking>>>>
rahulraj February 25, 2012 at 11:37 pm
LOLZ…..
Bala February 25, 2012 at 9:05 pm
Why can’t telenor try to have venture with my company which is HCL Technologies Ltd.
Sowmiyanarayanan February 25, 2012 at 9:02 pm
Tough job for new comers to fight with established players. Already BSNL, AIRTEL, Aircel Vodafone tata Idea Reliance in the arena. So TELNOR think before enter into fight.
amar February 25, 2012 at 7:54 pm
@Tharun George
If telenor will take 74% share ,then the name of the company will be TELENOR.
It is not that easy to get the licence again because many indian company are waiting including RIL.
RDB February 25, 2012 at 7:39 pm
Vedanta has some financial melt-down and they merged their Indian companies into Sesa Sterlite to reduce the debt. But it does not mean that the main promoter Mr. Agarwal has no money to be invest in telecom. It may be that he invest via Sterlite, now Sesa Sterlite.
Now the point is I said in the article that it is reported by ET that Vedanta is in the radar of Telenor which may be or not turn into reality.
Tharun George February 25, 2012 at 7:10 pm
I have few suggestion for new names of uinor depending on new partner.
Sterlite Industries – sternor
Srei Infrastructure – sreinor
Jindal’s JSW Power Trading Company- Jinnor
HTMT Telecom Private Ltd- HTnor
Cellebrum – Celnor
Moser Baer Infrastructure Ltd – Mosnor
Next Generation Telecommunications – Nexnor
RIL – Relnor
Tharun George February 25, 2012 at 6:59 pm
What about RIL?
RIl 4G + Uninor network= Affordable 4G internet
MIKE February 25, 2012 at 6:47 pm
ON WHAT BASES THE LICENCE IS TO BE CANCELED BY ORDER””””” WHAT THE VALUE OF INVESTMENT OF MILLION OF RS ACCORDING TO INDIAN LAW = MILION OF RS+BUSSNESS,SERVICE=FINAL INVOICE BECOME RS.0 ””’DONT U HAVE OTHER WAY OTHER THEN CANCELING THE LICENCE AND IF
LICENCE IS CANCELED THAT MEAN LICENCE WAS GIVEN ? WOW
MIKE February 25, 2012 at 6:39 pm
UNDERSTAND THIS MATER AS ISSUE IS OF 2008 TODAY 2012 WHETHER THE INDIAN GOVERNMENT WAS NOT AWARE BY THE OPERATORS PROVIDING THE SERVICE IN 2008,2009,2010 MID OF2011 EVERY THIS WAS OK FOR THEM NOW THEN WHY THEY ARE MAKING STATEMENT TO CANCEL THE LICENCE ”” OPERATORS HAVE INVESTED BILLION OF RS IN INDIA AND SO THE SERVICE WAS GIVEN BY THEM FROM 2008 TO…WHAT ABOUGHT THE OPERATOR WHO HAS INVESTED BILLION OF RS…. GOD INDIAN GOVERNMENT THIS S A GREAT CRIME IN THE BOOK OF LAW THAT THERE IS NO VALVE OF THE OPERATOR MONEY WHO INVESTED THE HUGE AMOUNT FOR THE BUSSNESS AND SERVICE” OPERATORS YOU ARR A GREAT FULL TO INVEST DONT YOU FIND OTHER COUNTY TO INVEST” WHAT MORE IS LEFT FOR YOUR INVESTIGATORY STATEMENT TO CANCEL THE LICENCE GOOD WHY DONT U CATCH THE BLACK MONEY INSTEAD OF POKING IN THE COMON PEOPLE LIFE AND BUSSNESMEN IF U HAVE POWER WE WANT THE CHART OF THE BLACK MONEY ONLY OF POLECTITION AND GOVERNMENT EMPLOY DO U HAVE THAT POWER
joseph February 25, 2012 at 6:02 pm
in my perception i think sterlite will be a better partner….
Abhijith February 25, 2012 at 5:37 pm
Hinduja group,sahara group, sun network,zee group these can handle well
Saurabh February 25, 2012 at 4:48 pm
@RDB, I think you must had done some research about Vedanta Group before posting that Telenor tie-up with Sterlite Ind. (now Sesa Sterlite) help them (Telenor) get funds for their operation and blah blah blah. You’re not aware of the financial conditions of Vedanta and posting whatever coming to you mind or you know through media feeds.
amit February 25, 2012 at 4:00 pm
wipro Most Eligible Partner
WiMAX February 25, 2012 at 3:20 pm
i think this is hard time for telenor,, and they want to stay in indian market, but if they breakup with unitech and firm a new telecom provider then it is very hard to get indian market. as airtel voda idea are there…..
Raghu February 25, 2012 at 1:57 pm
better Uninor tie up with Srei Infra as they have some telecom knowledge and has towers so that they have a base and then they can expand
sAM February 25, 2012 at 1:20 pm
It seems that Telenor is really really serious about India..
But one question arises Is it possible for them to get all customers of Uninor to the newly formed company with new partner?
I think the other biggies will oppose this showing various regulations and rules and will try to make Telenor to start from scratch.
Kanaga Deepan N February 25, 2012 at 1:05 pm
+1…
Esmail February 25, 2012 at 12:35 pm
Very well written article, covering all the intricate details of the topic, Telenor is presently the only hope for sustained competition in the Indian telecom market which keeps the the big 3 companies from forming an unchallenged monopoly, I hope they sever ties with Unitech and partner with Srei Infrastructure soon, which would boost their network quality as well..!
AP February 25, 2012 at 12:27 pm
Anyway, Telenor really needs to avoid getting into this with businesses that have no real experience in the services sector. If they just want a puppet JV that ‘manages’ the local government, they will repeat their earlier mistake and only end up proving that they are interested in getting in through the backdoor.