Telenor gets approval to sell Indian operations

Norway's Telenor, the joint venture partner in Indian telecom operator Uninor Wireless, has received approvals from the majority of the board members to sell off its business, while its Indian partner Unitech Ltd is mulling of a legal recourse.

The joint venture, Unitech Wireless, has invited proposals from potential bidders by August 6, 2012, its managing director Sigve Brekke said in a public notice published on Wednesday.

Telenor would participate in the forthcoming 2G auctions through an Indian affiliate company and in case there is just one bidder, it would have the right to fix the bid price at a "fair market value" of Rs4,190 crore ($753 million), it said.

Unitech's nominee directors on the JV's board have "recorded their dissent" to such an auction, the JV said in the notice.

Telenor, which had accused Unitech of "fraud and misrepresentation" following the 2G scam and contested Unitech's claims that it had veto rights to block any asset transfer. (See: Unitech seeks injunction on Telenor plans).

"As regards Unitech's veto rights, we believe these are automatically forfeited once it is established that the shareholders' agreement and all rights enshrined in it, was based on fraud," Telenor spokesman Glenn Mandelid said in a statement.