Norway promises to invest in Indian telecom sector
Norway has pledged full and long- term telecom investment interest in India and its government has committed itself in providing the best possible services to the country’s fast-growing telecommunications sector.
According to Norwegian Trade and Industry Minister Trond Giske, Norway Government has a serious business interest in India and is committed to co-operation with New Delhi on a long-term basis. Norway aims to make a big success of its telecom venture in India. Norwegian trade and industry representatives met India’s Telecom Ministry officials recently.
Telenor, one of the leading global telecom companies in which the Norwegian Government holds a 54% equity stake, has a joint venture with India’s Unitech Wireless Ltd. The joint venture is known here as Uninor.
The Indian telecommunications network has more than 621 million connections as of 2010, making it the third largest in the world. This figure is growing rapidly at the rate of 45% per annum.
Norway and other leading foreign players have invested in the telecom sector for a number of reasons. The Indian Government has done away with licensing for setting up manufacturing units for telecom equipment.
Moreover, 100% foreign direct investment (FDI) is permitted via the automatic route to make telecom equipment. Also, there is the facility of royalty payment, lump sum fee for transfer of technology and payment for use of trademarks and brand names through this route.
India intends to penalize the non-operating telcos
Indian government according to a media report intends to penalize the telcos who have not yet instigated operations after receiving licenses in January’08. The license holder will have to pay “liquidated damages” to DoT for not launching service on time, country’s Jr. Communication Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said. He further said that the degree of financial penalty is also a matter of consideration.
According to the terms of the license, the services were required to commence within 12 months of getting the licenses, but yet the telcos like Unitech Wireless Ltd., Swan Telecom Pvt. Ltd., Loop Telecom Ltd., S-Tel Ltd. and Datacom Solutions Ltd., who had received licenses last year, are not yet operational.
