Unitech sells 60 pc telecom stake to Telenor

Real estate major Unitech announced selling of 60 per cent stake in its telecom venture for Rs 6,120 crore to Norway-based Telenor, which has mobile operations in 12 countries with 160 million subscribers.

Real estate major Unitech on Wednesday announced selling of 60 per cent stake in its telecom venture for Rs 6,120 crore (about 1.23 billion dollar) to Norway-based Telenor, which has mobile operations in 12 countries with 160 million subscribers.

HT Image

Unitech was awarded pan-India mobile telecom license for Rs 1,651 crore early this year and has got GSM spectrum in 13 circles. The company plans to launch services in the first half of 2009.

"This is a landmark deal. At a time when lot of foreign exchange is outflowing, this deal will bring in much needed foreign exchange into the country," Unitech's telecom venture Chairman Sanjay Chandra told PTI.

The deal has put the enterprise value of Unitech's telecom business at a whopping Rs 11,620 crore (2.35 billion dollar), he said adding the company would now start the process of rolling out network through out the country.

Telenor, world's seventh largest mobile operator has operations in Europe and Asian countries, including 100 per cent subsidiary in Pakistan.

This is the second deal among the new GSM operators. Earlier, Swan Telecom with license for 13 circles had sold 45 per cent stake to UAE-based Etisalat for 900 million dollars.