Telenor Group, which entered India by acquiring 67.25% stake in Unitech Wireless, said it is very optimistic about India, but will not bid for pan-India 3G spectrum.
Telenor Group executive vice-president Hilde Tonne said, ?We are a 3G player, however, we will not go for a pan India 3G bidding as of now.? In addition to voice services, we are focusing on internet and data services in the Asian markets where we operate in and are targeting a market share of about 8% by 2018, he adds.
Telenor will be launching its services in India during the fourth quarter of 2009. The company is planning to invest nearly $3 billion as capital expenditure (capex) and operating expense (opex) over a period of 3-4 years. Not revealing the specifics on the companys strategy in India, Jon Fedrik Baksaas, president and CEO said, ?The baseline for us will be to create awareness, visibility and curiosity to our services.? The company is also looking at active relationship with distribution outlets and services in India. Its target is to become EBIDTA breakeven in three years and cashflow breakeven within five years. The main challenge for the company going ahead in India will be to build distribution network, however Baksaas said, ? we have active relationship with distribution channels in other market and hence we can bring consistency.?
Telenor, currently has about 40,000 employees globally, reported approximately $20 billion revenues in 2008. The company is also planning to pilot its machine-to-machine services like GPS and GPRS based location services in India. Telenor has been offering these services to its Nordic and European customers.
?If regulations permit, Telenor will also look at providing its financial services in India, which has been successful in Malaysia, Thailand, Bangladesh and Pakistan,? said Petter Borre Furberg, senior vice-president & head of services group of Telenor.
?(Travel for this story was sponsored by Telenor)
