Following Telenor’s declaration of its Q1-12 financial results, CEO & President Jon Fredrik Baksaas reiterated that the implementation of the TRAI recommendations on spectrum auction pricing will make it almost impossible for a newcomer like Telenor to stay on in India. He said that despite regulatory uncertainties, the company witnessed growth in terms of customers and revenues in the Indian market, and also on the EBIDTA side, although from a reporting point of view, there were some accruals from the fourth quarter. He said that had it not been for the 'regulatory mess-up', Uninor would have delivered EBITDA breakeven in the second quarter of 2013. He informed investors that the recommendations would hit the entire telecom industry and that there's been a backlash- "Frequencies are necessary to have. We can’t do this without access to frequencies and licenses. And the recent recommendation that came out from TRAI didn’t only hit a newcomer like Telenor, it also hit the whole industry in a very dramatic way, and the industry collectively joined in a joint message to the authorities, not only their regulator but also the authorities that are to decide on this during the month of May." Baksaas added that If there were decisions coming out of this situation in Uninor's favour, then Telenor will maintain its peak funding commitment to the project of Rs 155 billion as the peak funding figure before it reaches breakeven." We will continue to work for a regulatory environment in India that makes it feasible for us to…
