Telecom Lead India: Real estate major Unitech, a joint
venture partner of Telenor in India, has got temporary relief, as the Company
Law Board has stayed the proposed move to auction assets of Uninor.
The quasi-judicial body ordered Telenor not to proceed
with a planned auction of its assets until its next hearing, which is due on
August 8.
On Thursday, Unitech approached the Company Law Board
seeking a stay on auctioning Uninor Wireless. Unitech owns 32.75 percent equity
stake in Uninor Wireless.
Both Telenor and Unitech have been fighting since the
cancellation of Uninors operating licenses by the Supreme Court in its
February ruling.
Unitech feared that Telenor may possibly be the only
bidder for the assets of Uninor. Earlier, Uninor had set a minimum price of Rs
4,000 crore for the auction of India telecom business. The company said that
Telenor would pay Rs 4,190 crore in case no other bidder shows interest by
August 6.
Uninor said that the auction of its business will get
maximum possible returns for its investors.
Unitech alleges that the auction is not being fairly, as
Uninor is the only party to have expressed interest through the direct control
of the same management of Telenor. Unitech has said it has veto rights to
block any asset transfer.
Telenor wants to sell its business to a new company to
seek fresh operating licenses. The company also seeks to scrap the joint
venture with real estate major Unitech.
Recently, Uninor posted 48.2 percent in revenues at 1.03
billion Norwegian krone in the quarter under review. The company said that
quarterly growth was complemented by increase in subscription base.
Uninor to scale down operations in Tamil Nadu, Kerala,
Karnataka and Orissa
Despite posting growth in its operations, Uninor has
decided to scale down operations in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Karnataka and
Orissa telecom circles. The decision was taken due to the ongoing regulatory
uncertainties.
Telenor also plans to slash
2,000 jobs in Indian telecom market, which is part of a cost-cutting drive.
editor@telecomlead.com
