Unitech to sell telecom arm to Telenor
Saturday, November 8, 2008 23:52Telenor is open to possible entry into India’s growing mobile market, as part of its Asia-focused investment strategy. Telenor already operates in Pakistan and Bangladesh and says it is the second biggest non-Asian operator in Asia after Vodafone.
INDIAN REAL estate developer Unitech is in discussions with Norwegian telecom group Telenor to sell a stake in its nascent telecom venture.
Telenor said last month, it was open to possible entry into India’s growing mobile market, as part of its Asia-focused investment strategy. Telenor already operates in Pakistan and Bangladesh and says it is the second biggest non-Asian operator in Asia after Vodafone.
Industry sources said, the deal is already in progress and can be wrapped up any day.
Market information suggest Unitech was looking to sell a stake of more than 40 percent in the venture to be branded Unitech Wireless, which has licenses to operate in India’s 22 service areas and plans to launch services by March 2009. But Unitech has declined to be specific on valuations.
Last month, another Indian telecoms start-up, Swan Telecom, which has licences to operate in 13 service areas, sold a 45 per cent stake to Emirates Telecommunications Corp ETEL.AD for $900 million, giving Swan a $2 billion valuation. Unitech, with 22 licences, should be valued at a much higher price, the industry source said.
Unitech is India’s second-largest listed real estate firm. Earlier this year it got the licences through its subsidiaries and has been awarded radio spectrum in 12 of them so far.
Foreign players have been interested in picking up stakes in Indian telecom firms to cash in on the 8-9 million mobile subscriber additions every month that make the country the world’s fastest-growing market for wireless services and the second-largest such market after China.
