Telenor expects loss of Rs 3,120 crore from India

Norwegian telecom major Telenor today said it expects its Indian venture Uninor to contribute to an Ebitda loss of around NOK 4 billion (Rs 3,120 crore) in 2011. The company also expects a capital expenditure of NOK 1–1.5 billion in Uninor (Rs 780-1,170 crore).

Telenor said its Ebitda decreased by NOK 1.4 billion (Rs 1,092 crore) for the 12 months ended December 2010 due to negative contribution from its Indian operations, but other parts of Asia have performed better. The company owns 67.2 per cent in Uninor which has laucnhed operations in 21 circles, and has commercial operations across 13 circles in the country.

“Our go-to-market model is gradually improving. India is a very competitive market coupled with a challenging regulatory environment and we are focusing strongly on establishing Uninor as an ultra-low-cost operator,” said Jon Fredrik Baksaas, president & CEO of Telenor.

Uninor, which launched operations in December 2009, reported an operating loss of NOK 5.04 billion (Rs 3,931 crore) in 2010.

For the one-year period ended December, Uninor posted an operating loss of NOK 1.2 billion (Rs 936 crore) as compared to a loss of NOK 755 million (Rs 588 crore) posted in the corresponding period last year. It posted a loss at the EBIDTA level as well at NOK 1 billion (Rs 780 crore) for the period as compared to NOK 677 million (Rs 582 crore) in the same period last year.

Its revenues for October-December period jumped manifold to NOK 400 million (Rs 312 crore) from just NOK 3 million (Rs 2.3 crore) in the corresponding of 2009. Its total subscribers went up to 4.3 million from one million.