Telenor Q3 revenues beats street expectations (India, Norway)
Norwegian telecom major Telenor posted a nearly 6% jump in September quarter revenue helped primarily by a strong showing in India, even as its global profits nosedived.
According to the company it added four million new customers in India in three months ended September and raked in revenue of US$31.72 million. Revenues from India in local more than doubled from last quarter due to higher subscription base and increased ARPU.
However, Telenor’s global profits dropped by 51% to US$273.17 million in the quarter under review, in comparison to a profit of US$515.85 million on a revenue of US$3.37 billion in the year-ago period.
According to Telenor President and CEO Jon Fredrik Baksaas, the group delivered another strong quarter and its consolidated operations added seven million new mobile subscriptions during this period. He is pleased to see promising development for Uninor in India this quarter with strong growth in subscriptions and increased average revenue per user. Going forward, the company will continue its efforts to increase revenues and improve business processes.
In India, Telenor is present through a joint venture with Unitech called ‘Uninor’, in which the company holds a 67.25% stake.
According to Uninor MD Sigve Brekke, he is encouraged by the performance in the September quarter. Company’s dynamic pricing plan that offers up to 60% on calls is attracting customers to try service and increasingly uses (Uninor) as their primary SIM.
Uninor’s total subscriptions touched 7.9 million in the three months ended September. However, Telenor’s total revenue growth was impacted by reduced international roaming fees, lower growth in handset revenues and increased competitive pressure.
In the September quarter, EBITDA declined by US$250.51 million compared to last year due to the negative contribution from Uninor, which was partly offset by the improved performance of Telenor’s established Asian operations.
Telenor noted that it expects Uninor will contribute with an EBITDA loss of around US$665.06 million and capital expenditure in the range of US$222-296 million.
Uninor launches GPRS services for prepaid subscribers (India)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The GPRS service for the prepaid subscribers has been launched by One of India’s new mobile network operators, Unitech Wireless, which offers services under the Uninor banner. Customers in seven circles will receive GPRS data plans.
The seven circles include- Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. Free trial of the services will also be offered to all the users until May 6, 2010.
According to David Mengehello, executive vice president of marketing for Uninor, Uninor will focus hard on data, building on its data capabilities to launch many more exciting ideas soon and the company has some solid experience in markets very similar to India with unique and successful data-based applications.
ED initiates probes on DoT officials (India)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: According to the Enforcement Case Information Report, a criminal case has been registered against some unknown DoT officials with other unknown companies for committing an offence under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
As per the official sources, the investigation would bring under the scanner nine companies which were awarded licenses in January 2008 along with some DoT officers who were alleged to have connived with some private telecom firms for causing pecuniary loss of an estimated Rs 22,000 crore to the exchequer.
Companies like Swan, Unitech, Venugopal Dhoot-promoted Videocon and many others were provided licenses bundled with start-up spectrum for Rs 1,651 crore for pan-India operations.
CBI has started its investigation and has also registered an FIR in this regard.
Unitech to stretch its wings in India
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Half of the Indian market will be covered by Unitech Wireless, an Indian subsidiary of Telenor, by the end of this year. The company has expressed its desire to position itself in the mid-end to high-end segment besides making it clear that it is not expecting any decrease in the mobile prices.
Sigve Brekke, head of Telenor’s operations in Asia, denied Unitech’s participation in the 3G auction as it sees no immediate demand for it in India.
According to the executive, Unitech will use telecoms towers of existing players rather than its own, and that on a wider note Telenor has no plans to buy companies in Pakistan or Africa.
Unitech commercially launched its service in India in December 2009 under the brand name Uninor. 67.25% stake in Unitech is currently held by Telenor and it is expected to rise to 74% by the end of this month.
Uninor’s subscribers list reached 1.2 million mark
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Uninor’s subscribers list reached 1.2 million marks in the eight telecommunication circles in India where its GSM services are available. Uninor is a joint venture between Indian real estate Company Unitech and Norway’s Telenor Group.
On December 3, the company launched its service in the circles Uttar Pradesh west, Uttar Pradesh east, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh and on December 22, it was launched in Orissa.
Two price plans were introduced by Uninor at the time of the launch. One is the base plan called talklonger@ INR 0.29, designed for customers who make longer calls, and a subscription plan called callmore@ INR 0.29, for those who call more often.
Telenor concerned over lack of spectrum (India)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Claiming it as the largest single day launch in telecom history, Uninor, Telenor’s Indian unit launched its GSM network covering nearly 600 million people. But at the same time, the company also expressed its
concerns over the lack of spectrum.
The company said that when they got the license, they were said to be given extra spectrum after reaching certain subscribers level. Two third of Uninor is owned by Scandinavia’s Telenor while the rest is owned by India’s Unitech Group.
The company plans to cover 22 telecom circles in India in which eight circles will be covered in this month while five will be covered early next year. Instead of offering per second billing, Uninor has offered 25 paise per minute tariff for local calls, and 49 paise for STD.
Norwegian firm Telenor enters India with 29p per minute plan
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Moving one step ahead of the pay per second system, Norway-based firm Telenor, entered Indian market with 29 paise per minute plan under the brand name Uninor. The company has tied up with India’s Unitech Group and will be launched in seven circles — UP (East), Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, UP (West) and Bihar.
According to the CEO and President of Telenor group, Jon Fredrik Baksaas, the new plan offers more value for money to the users as the consumers want something more than the usual features. The pay per second billing was first launched by TATA DoCoMo, followed by other operators.
According to Unitech Wireless Managing Director Stein-Erik Vellan, the company’s target is to occupy 8% of the market share by 2018 and operate cash-flow break-even in five years.
Besides, the company also expects that the average revenue per user (ARPU) becomes lower than the industry level in the near term. However, Unitech is susceptible about bidding in the 3G auction but at the same time it has made it clear that it will surely not bid for an all India license.
DoT sets October deadline for licence applications (India)
India’s department of telecommunication (DoT) has announced 1 October as the deadline for accepting new licence applications, reports the Economic Times. It has been decided that new applications for Unified Access Services Licences will not be accepted after 1 October. At the same time, communications and IT minister A Raja said that the DoT has formed a committee to formulate pre-qualification norms for applicants and screening guidelines for those that qualify. All the applications will be scrutinised and limited applications will be selected. About 190 new licence applications have already been received, with real estate players like Unitech and Parsvnath among the applicants.
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