In the quarter where Telenor group had tied up with Lakshdeep Investments & Finance to create a new joint venture Telewings Communications, the group had reported total India revenues of NOK 810 million (around Rs 7.96 billion), up 13.5% from NOK 863 million (Rs 8.48 billion) sequentially but down 13.46% from NOK 936 million (Rs 9.2 billion) revenues in the corresponding quarter last year. Here are some notes from Uninor's earnings conference call: - Telenor CEO Jon Fredrik Baksaas said that 2012 was quite a roller coaster year for the company in terms of licenses. During the quarter, the company has reached an important milestone in securing continuation of its operations in India. In October, Telenor reached a settlement with its previous partner Unitech and found a new partner to continue its Indian operations. - 2G Spectrum Auction: In November 2012, the new joint venture Telewings Communications participated in the 2G spectrum auction and secured 24 blocks of spectrum in 6 of its best performing circles including Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Maharashtra, UP East and UP West, for a total of Rs 4,018.28 crore, of which one-third was paid up-front. Baksaas noted that these six circles account for 600 million people in India and they expect the penetration to reach 40% in these regions. - Restructuring Indian Operations: Baksaas mentioned that the restructuring process is going as expected. Telenor has downscaled operations in four circles (Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Orissa) already and in December 2012, it gave service termination notices to subscribers in Kolkata and West Bengal due to lack of new spectrum. The…
