Norway's Telenor launches Indian mobile service

NEW DELHI — Norwegian telecom group Telenor launched a new mobile service Thursday in India's congested cellular market where over a dozen operators are in a tariff war for millions of new customers each month. "This is indeed a milestone in a longer journey to become a significant operator in India," said Stein-Erik Vellan, managing director of Unitech Wireless, the new mobile venture of Telenor and Indian property giant Unitech.  

Telenor, the world's sixth-largest mobile services provider, holds 49 percent of the cellular company, known as Uninor, but the stake is set to rise to 67.25 percent. The venture is part of a strategy by Telenor, which already has operations in such countries as Pakistan, Malaysia and Thailand, to boost its revenues from Asia. The service was rolled out in seven of India's 22 cellular phone zones -- covering a potential 600 million customers -- and Uninor plans to launch in more zones next year. Uninor, using the slogan "My time is now" targeting India's burgeoning youth population, is aiming for an eight percent share of the Indian market by 2018. 

"This is a long term venture, not something we can do as a quick fix," said Jon Fredrik Baksaas, chief executive of Telenor Group. Telenor joined a clutch of other foreign companies which have teamed up with local partners to tap the Indian market including Britain's Vodafone, Japan's NTT DoCoMo and Russia's Sistema JSFC. Foreign ownership in Indian telecom companies is capped by the government at 74 percent. Foreign telecom firms have been coming to India in the hope of increasing revenue against a backdrop of sluggish domestic markets. India, a country of nearly 1.2 billion people, added 16.67 million new mobile phone connections in October, making it the world's fastest-growing cellular market. But a no-holds-barred price war has driven down billing rates to below a cent a minute, threatening revenues and profits of Indian telecom heavyweights such as market leaders Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications. 

Telenorr, the second-largest foreign telecom operator in Asia after Vodafone, said it will steer clear of new per-second billing plans offered by rivals. It will aim to offer more attractive deals for customers who talk longer. Telenor and Unitech, India's second-largest real estate company, teamed up last year to launch the company. 

"This is the fastest rollout we have ever done in this group," said Baksaas. The company has begun service in southern India, the northern state of Uttar Pradesh and the eastern states of Bihar and Jharkhand. India now has 14 cellular operators, T.R. Dua, director general of the Cellular Operators' Association of India, said, warning that the market has too many players. "The industry cannot support this many operators. Consolidation is the only way forward," he told AFP. Telenor's launch is expected to be followed by several others including that of the United Arab Emirates' Etisalat. Source: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j3Q_Xrl6Lq5fL5aLOhX-fJdnF-kw