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Telecom operator Uninor, a fully-owned subsidiary of Norwegian communications company Telenor Group, will be investing Rs 500 crore in capital expenditure in the current calendar, primarily to increase its footprint, according to chief executive officer Vivek Sood.
“We will continue to grow pretty much the same as last year. We don't have any cash-flow break-even and hence we need to borrow to fund the expansion,” he told mediapersons in Hyderabad on Monday.
Uninor had so far invested between Rs 17,000 crore and Rs 18,000 crore in India. It has invested Rs 500 crore last year, including in adding 5,000 new network sites across its six circles. The Telangana and Andhra Pradesh circle expanded its network by an additional 624 sites last year.
“In 2015, we are confident of a similar growth trajectory, both on voice and Internet,” Sood said, adding 23 per cent of Uninor’s customers were regular Internet users. “Most customers are active on WhatsApp and Facebook ... that’s where we are very aggressive on the pricing.”
Stating that Uninor currently has 42 million customers across its six circles, Sood said the company was looking at touching the 50-million mark by the end of this calendar. “We have acquired a new circle — Assam —which will be rolled out in the second half of 2015,” he said.
On plans to pitch in for 4G spectrum, the auction for which is around the corner, he said Uninor was preparing itself on how to participate. There is an opportunity in our existing circles to expand, too, he added.
