Uninor plans rollout in 2 more northern circles, reports operating loss of $235 million in Jan-Mar

MUMBAI: Mobile phone company Uninor, majority owned by Norway’s Telenor, which had put its expansion plans on hold as it was struggling with operations in Karnataka and Kerala, plans to launch services in two more northern circles in 2011, managing director Sigve Brekke told ET. Uninor on Wednesday reported an operating loss of $235 million on revenues of $103 million in the January-March period.

“We need to gradually bring down costs in the second half of the year (2011),” Brekke said. Globally, Telenor said, its profits more than doubled to 3 billion Norwegian Krone (around . 2,536.8 crore) in the first quarter of 2011 boosted by Asian operations . India accounted for about 60% of the nine million new customers Telenor added globally during the three months ended March 2011.

Uninor had about 17.4 million customers in India as of March 2011. The company said it had added 1,100 new towers taking its total to 24,300. In India, Uninor’s monthly average revenue per user is about $2.3 (. 102), compared with larger peers which have average revenue of around . 200. As the company begins to leverage economies of scale, Uninor expects its average revenue to improve. Brekke said Uninor’s objective is to break even by the end of next year. Telenor entered India in 2009 when it bought a controlling stake in Unitech Wireless. Unitech Wireless is one of the companies that have been chargesheeted by the CBI in the 2G spectrum scam.