Telenor renews drive to sell off Uninor assets

Norwegian-backed telco Telenor has appealed to the Delhi High Court to set aside the decision of the Company Law Board (CLB) preventing it from auctioning the assets of Uninor, its joint venture with Indian real estate company Unitech. The two partners have been at odds and looking to split since the cancellation of Uninor’s operating licences in February this year. Telenor’s appeal centred on the alleged deception and criminal acts of Unitech committed prior to the Norwegians’ involvement in the company. The Economic Times quotes Sandeep Sethi, representing the Norwegian telco, as saying that Telenor ‘was made to understand that the Unified Access Service Licences (UASL) for 22 circles were validly and legally obtained. However, the facts are contrary: these licences obtained by Unitech Ltd were used to entice us to make [a] huge investment…the [managing director] of the real estate major entered into a conspiracy with then telecom minister Andimuthu Raja for obtaining the UASL licenses.’ Sethi added that Unitech had moved to block every attempt to salvage the company.