Norway intervenes to protect Telenor's $3 bn India investment
With the Supreme Court ordering the cancellation of 122 telecom licences awarded in 2008, Norway started a diplomatic exercise here Monday to protect the multi-billion dollar investment made in an Indian company by Oslo-based Telenor, one of its state-run firms.
The move was initiated even as Uninor, the Indian joint venture between Telenor and Unitech, said it will consider a review of the Supreme Court order, while also requesting the Indian government to restrict the auction for spectrum to the new players.
"Telenor has not done anything wrong in India. That is, as I understand that the court has made a decision about how the government handled all the licenses," said Norway's Minister of Government Administration, Reform and Church Affairs Rigmor Aasrud, who also oversees telecom portfolio.
"So, I think, the licences were handled out to companies before Telenor was part of the mobile market in India. So I think that is what it is. We are following the situation closely," she told reporters, ahead of her meeting with Communications and IT Minister Kapil Sibal.
Telenor has committed an investment of $3 billion in India, the bulk of which has already been deployed, according to officials at Uninor.
The Indian entity, which stands to lose as many as 22 licences covering nearly the whole of India with some 40 million subscribers, said only those players who got the licences in 2008 should be invited for the auction of spectrum, as and when the government decides to do so.
"Last time, it was very clear that the policy of the government was to increase competition. So the incumbents were not invited. This time it needs to be in the same spirit," Sigve Brekke, the managing director of Uninor, told reporters here in a separate interaction.
He also made it clear that that the company, with all the support from the parent company and the Government of Norway, intended to fight for its rights. But asked if they would bid for airwaves, he said it depended on the guidelines and conditions.
"If you ask me if I am angry and upset, the answer is yes. I am angry and upset. It's very clear we are unfairly harmed. We are not to be blamed for something that happened in the past," Brekke said, adding: "We are here to continue to fight and continue to win. We are not running away."
Brekke said Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg has written to his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh, adding Minister Aasrud will be in India for a week, meeting with some top policy-makers to protect the investments made by the state-run company.
"We are trying to work on all different tools we have. Of course, also working on legal options. It's possible to sit down and talk and we have started talks with both the government and the regulator," he added.
He said by the end of this week, Uninor will also submit its view on the pre-consultation paper on the auction of spectrum circulated by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's (TRAI).
