Hit by Indian ops Telenor posts 1.93bn kroner loss for Oct-Dec

Norway-based telecom company Telenor ASA today posted a loss of 1.93 billion Norwegian kroner (USD 335 million) for the October-December quarter, weighed down by hefty impairment losses related to cancellation of 2G licences in India.

In the year-ago period, the company had a net profit of 2.10 billion kroner, Telenor said in a statement.

The quarterly results included huge losses of 4.1 billion kroner related to cancellation of 2G licences of its Indian joint venture Uninor.

Telenor said it would be careful about future investments in India after the Supreme Court revoked its mobile licences. India's Supreme Court last week ordered the cancellation of 122 telecom licenses--including 22 held by Uninor, a joint venture between Telenor and real-estate firm Unitech.

"The recent ruling from the Indian Supreme Court to cancel all telecom licences issued in 2008 severely penalises Telenor for actions that took place before we entered India. We are working to protect our investments in all possible manners, and will consider every option prior to any further investments.

"We expect Indian authorities to conduct a swift and fair process," Telenor Group President and CEO Jon Fredrik Baksaas said.

The company's revenues rose to 25.43 billion kroner in the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2011, from 24. 85 billion kroner in the same period last year.

During the quarter, the company has registered an operating loss of 4.97 billion kroner from its Indian operations (Uninor), against a loss of 1.27 billion kroner in the year-ago period.

However, the company's revenues climbed to 936 million kroner from its Indian operations during the quarter under review from 400 million kroner in the year-ago period.

For the full year, net profit to the company plunged to 7.94 billion kroner from 14.33 billion kroner in the previous year. The company's annual revenues rose to 98.52 billion kroner from 94.84 billion kroner.

Looking ahead, Telenor expects organic revenue growth above 5 per cent in 2012 and sales growth of 12-13 per cent.

The company projected that Uninor will contribute with an EBITDA loss of around 2 billion kroner and capital expenditure, excluding licences and spectrum, of about 1 billion kroner.
In 2011, the company added 29 million mobile subscriptions, of which 7 million were added in the fourth quarter. However in India, its mobile subscriptions declined to 4.1 million during the December quarter from 4.33 million in the year-ago period.