Telenor to invest up to Rs 15,500 cr in India

New Delhi: Norwegian telecom giant Telenor today said it will invest up to Rs 15,500 crore in Indian operations in joint venture with Unitech Wireless.

Group CEO Fredrik Baksaas said “peak funding” will remain within Rs 15,500 crore, while addressing an event Capital Markets Day, 2011 in Norway.

Telenor, which has a mobile services joint venture in India with Unitech Wireless and operates under the brand of Uninor, had said last year that it plans to invest Rs 15,500 in 10 years in India operations.

The company expects to generate a four-fold growth in its revenue target to Rs 2,500 crore from its Indian arm for the fiscal 2011-12 as compared to Rs 600 crore registered in last fiscal, Uninor Managing director Sigve Brekke said.

Besides, he said that the company projects to slash its capital expenditure by Rs 400 crore in 2011-12 from Rs 1,200 crore posted in 2010-11.

Brekke further said that the operator plans to break-even on Ebidta margins by the first half of 2013 in India.

Telenor holds 67.25 percent stake in Uninor, the rest is with real estate firm Unitech. The company had received licence to roll out services in 21 of the 22 circles in India.

Although it has launched its services in only 13 circles and has a mobile subscriptions of 23 million users.

The company is the second largest foreign operator in Asia. It has operations in the Nordics, Eastern Europe and across Asia.

It has controlling stake investments in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Thailand and Malaysia.

PTI