RoC to look into Telenor's investment in Unitech Wireless

The Corporate Affairs Ministry has asked the Registrar of Companies (RoC) to look into the books of Unitech Wireless to check for any anomaly in the Rs 6,120 crore investment by Norway-based Telenor Group in the company.

The communication dated September 13 also asks the RoC to see if the amount for which the stake was sold to Telenor was justified, official sources said.

When contacted, Uninor, a JV between Unitech and Telenor, said it has not yet received any communication from the RoC regarding this, but denied having sold any stake in Unitech Wireless.

"With regard to the question on scrutiny, since no such communication has been received by us, we cannot comment on speculations. However, on this subject itself, we have stated earlier too that the Telenor Group's investment is in Unitech Wireless through new equity and not through any share sold by Unitech Ltd."

"It is incorrect to state that Unitech Ltd has sold its stake in Unitech Wireless to Telenor Group. This investment is the working capital that we are using to run our operations in the country. Furthermore, both our shareholders continue to remain invested in the company," Uninor said in an email response.

Uninor is one of the new telecom licencees which got a licence in January, 2008, and the company has permission to launch mobile services across the nation.

The company has already launched services across 13 circles and claimed to have a subscriber base of over 9 million. It was one of the fastest growing operators in the month of August, adding over two million new users.

Uninor, in which Telenor has a 67.25 per cent stake, was the first operator to introduce the concept of dynamic tariffs, offering up to a 60 per cent discount on local calls.

The company is in the process of launching services in the rest of its circles and is waiting to get spectrum in the lucrative Delhi circle.

RoC Pune has been asked to carry out a technical scrutiny of Unitech Wireless for possible violation of company law in its merger with Telenor. An official source said the RoC would look into whether Unitech sold its 2G licence to the Norwegian company, for how much and if there was any lock-in period.

Under section 234 of the Companies Act, 1956, the RoC of a region can call for information or an explanation from a company, which would have to furnish the documents sought.

Unitech Wireless, now known as Uninor, was caught in the eye of a storm after it sold off its stake to a foreign company soon after obtaining a 2G licence.