Uninor today announced that it has received the fourth and final round of the planned fresh equity investment from the Telenor Group. With this the Telenor Group has invested a total of INR 61.2 billion of new equity into the company, taking its ownership to 67.25 per cent, as per the shareholders’ agreement.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) had approved Uninor’s application to increase its foreign shareholding up to 74% in 2009.
“Telenor Group’s investments into Uninor, as agreed between the shareholders, are now complete. This is an important milestone that also demonstrates the continuing confidence of our shareholders in our operation. As earlier, Uninor will utilize this investment as working capital to strengthen its operations in the eight circles launched last year and launch operations in new circles in 2010,” said Stein-Erik Vellan, managing director, Uninor.
Uninor aims at achieving EBITDA break-even within 3 years and Operating Cash Flow break-even within 5 years of launch of operations and a market share of 8 per cent by 2018.
“In December 2009 Uninor successfully launched its services in 8 circles across India, covering a footprint of more than 600 million. As per our plans, this injection of equity will provide Uninor with working capital to continue the roll out of services in new circles, and to secure customer growth in the circles where Uninor is already available”, said Sigve Brekke, executive vice president, and head of Telenor Group Asian Operations. “I am very satisfied with the way Uninor services have been received amongst the mobile consumers in India.”
“I am very pleased with the progress that the Unitech Wireless business has made in the first two months of operations. The fresh equity investment from Telenor is as per the initial plan and will help the company continue to scale up operations,” said Sanjay Chandra, managing director, Unitech Limited.
— IndiaRetailing Bureau
