Uninor will have to punch way above its weight to stay in the fight

Via The Economic Times | Jun 17, 2015

Telecom operator Uninor faces challenges because it is a small player in an inte
nsely competitive market, with just 2G spectrum in a country which is on the cus
p of a data revolution, according to Sigve Brekke, who has been named chief exec
utive of the Gurgaon-based firm's Norwegian parent Telenor Group. "There are new
challenges on the horizon: We are still a smaller player in a competitive, rapi
dly digitising Indian market. Despite only running network on 2G, we have made a
commitment - to bring Internet for all. We have to fight way above our weight c
lass," Brekke, Telenor's Asia head and a former India CEO, wrote in an article f
or ET. Uninor operates in six of India's 22 telecom service areas, serves 46 mil
lion subscribers using 2G technology and has plans to connect 50 percent of its
customers to the internet by the end of 2017. It, however, needs to make a decis
ive move on data growth in India, given that it doesn't have 3G spectrum and 4G
is still some way from wide-scale adoption.