Telenor raises stake in Unitech JV to 67.5 per cent
10 Feb 2010
After having hiked its stake in its Indian joint venture with Unitech Wireless earlier last month to 60.1 per cent (See: Telenor hikes stake in Unitech to 60.1 per cent), Norwegian telecom operator Telenor has now hiked its stake to 67.5 per cent, by acquiring an additional 7.15 per cent equity shares for around Rs2,022 crore ($434 million).
Telenor Asia Pte Ltd's fourth round of investment in the Unitech Wireless joint venture takes its holding in the Indian telecom company to an agreed 67.25 per cent.
Telenor had increased its holding in the Unitech Wireless joint venture to 60.1 per cent and launched Uninor services in India in December last, with a 1.2 million initial subscriber base.
Unitech Ltd, which founded Unitech Wireless, holds the remaining stake in Uninor.
Telenor's total investment in Uninor now stands at Rs6,135 crore and the company has an option to increase its stake in the joint venture to 74 per cent.
Uninor now operates in eight of the 22 telecom circles in India. The eight circles include Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh East, Uttar Pradesh West and Bihar.
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