Telenor seeks new partner in India

Norwegian firm Telenor on Thursday said it is in discussions to rope in a new partner for its telecom business in India before the government auctions the spectrum.

The company’s Indian unit Uninor suffered a major setback after 22 of its licences were cancelled by the Supreme Court in February in the 2G spectrum allocation case.

While cancelling 122 licences in all of various telecom operators, the apex court ordered the government to conduct a fresh spectrum auction, where Telenor intends to participate with a new partner.

‘We are in active discussions for partners with handful of people,’ Telenor executive vice-president and head of region Asia Sigve Brekke said.

Telenor operates a telecom services joint-venture ‘Uninor’ in India with real estate major Unitech. It holds over 67 per cent stake in Uninor, while the rest is with the Indian partner.

Following the cancellation of Uninor's licences, Telenor had said it planned to set up a new company for.

‘I am quite optimistic that we will part with all these issues prior to the auction dates. The day we go into that auction, we need to have established a new company, which has transfered assets, a company with a new partner and the old partner is out,’ he said.