Uninor a joint venture between Uninor Group and Telenor Group which presently operates in 13 telecom circles at India has announced planning to scale down its operations to 9 telecom circles. Company is trying to focus its resources to commercially viable telecom circles, as current situation is continuing uncertainty around the spectrum auctions.
Uninor will gradually scale down its operations in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Orissa telecom circles and will focus on other 9 telecom circles which include Mumbai, Maharashtra & Goa, UP, Gujarat, Bihar and Jharkhand, Kolkata, West Bengall and Andhra Pradesh. Uninor has 6.8 million customers in these four circles of which 46 per cent are active users. Uninor on the initial phase of scaling down, will stop activation any new subscribers in these four telecom circles with immediate effect. They will also inform all existing customers a 30 day notice before any network scaled-down is expected to begin.
“Since the Supreme Court order, we have pursued every possible measure to take our business forward in its current form. However, we are now forced to take this difficult but necessary decision. Our plan now is to enter the auctions with a very strong presence in these nine circles, auction rules permitting. We will focus funds, resources and all our efforts to meet even more aggressive targets in these nine circles.
As things stand today, we do not foresee the need for any major changes after this in our circles. We plan to use the remaining months to aggressively build operations in these nine circles. Rules permitting, we will enter the auctions fighting fit.” said Mr Sigve Brekke, Managing Director, Uninor.
Uninor has around 400 employees in four telecom circles. As scale down begins company will try to relocate these employees to other telecom areas and will also provide assistance in securing employment elsewhere.