Uninor appoints Yogesh Malik as CEO

Sigve Brekke to become chairman after regulatory clearences

Norway-based telecom operator Telenor today said it has appointed Yogesh Malik as the chief executive officer (CEO) for its Indian arm Uninor, with immediate effect.

On the other hand, Uninor's current managing director Sigve Brekke will take over as the Chairman of Uninor once the company gets necessary regulatory clearances, the company said in a statement.

Brekke, who also is the Head of Asian Operations for Telenor Group, will fully focus on this role and will continue to be responsible for all Telenor affairs in India.

Malik joined Uninor as the chief operating officer (COO) in 2011.

“He has played an instrumental role in establishing Uninor as the most affordable mobile operator. His focus on operational efficiency and innovations that benefit the mass market has contributed to making Uninor India’s fastest growing service provider,” Brekke said in a statement.

In the past, Malik has held executive positions at Telenor Group headquarters in Norway, and was chief technology officer (CTO) of Telenor Group companies in Ukraine and Bangladesh. He had also worked with companies such as AT&T, Tata and Ericsson in India and Sweden and for TIW (now Vodafone) in Canada, China, Brazil and the Czech Republic.

“It is now time for me to strengthen my focus on further development of Telenor Group’s Asian portfolio. Asia represents a strong growth potential, and I believe Telenor is well positioned to capture more than its fair share of this growth. Taking responsibility for our Indian operations was always meant to be temporary, but with all the challenges that we faced, my period in India became longer than intended. My time here has been both challenging and rewarding,” said Brekke.

According to a company statement, Telenor Group will also be represented in India through its country office. This office will be responsible for Telenor Group’s external and strategic affairs in India, and continues to be headed by its chief representative in India, Rajiv Bawa.

Telenor had entered Indian market in 2009 through a joint venture (JV) with real estate giant Unitech Group but now has bought back its stake in the JV. The Norway-based telecom service provider, which would operate in India under the name of Telewings Communication Servives recently sold a 26% stake to Mumbai-based Lakshdeep Investments & Finance.

However, after its pan-India operating permits were quashed because of an order by the Supreme Court last year, the company decided to trim down its operations in India. In November 2012, it bought spectrum in six telecom circles through auction.

Last month, Uninor said that it has narrowed its operating loss to Norwegian Krone 194 million (about Rs 179.83 crore) for the quarter ended March 31, 2013, as against a operating loss of NOK 4,684 million (about Rs 4,342.51 crore) in the same period last year. The revenues of the company were down 29.83% to NOK 708 million (Rs 657.07 crore) during the quarter.