Uninor goes slow on expansion plans

Uninor, India's newest telecom player, is being forced to go slow on its nationwide expansion plans due to governmental delays in allocations and clearances.

Although the firm, which is a joint venture between Norway's Telenor and domestic real estate major Unitech, has received spectrums to operate in 21 circles, it has only been able to operationalise services in 13 of these, so far.

“We still do not have spectrum in Delhi and in crucial districts of four other circles,” Uninor executive vice-president (corporate affairs), Rajiv Bawa said, explaining that the firm was yet to start operations in Rajasthan, Jammu & Kashmir, Assam and the North East in spite of holding the licenses.

“We would have liked to launch in other circles sooner, too, but the dynamics have changed since the new regulations were brought into place last year. The ambiguity of the government policy and the lack of clarity have had an impact,” Bawa said. He was speaking on the sidelines of the operator's launch in the Kolkata and West Bengal circles.

The current regime of seeking security clearances for telecom equipment was also having an effect, he added.

Uninor, which had said that it intends on capturing 8 per cent of the domestic telecom market by 2018, is unlikely to benefit significantly from the much-delayed roll out of mobile number portability (MNP), Bawa said.

“Perception says that MNP will hurt the incumbent, but over the long-term, it will create a level-playing field. It will not be a game-changer for us,” he explained.