Uninor reports operating loss in third quarter

KOLKATA: Uninor, the Indian unit of Norwegian cellphone service provider Telenor, widened its operating loss in the third quarter of 2014 from a year earlier, as higher investments in network expansion ate into robust revenue growth, which made the company the fastest growing among all of the parent's global operations.

Telenor said its Indian unit posted an operating loss of 195 million Norwegian krone (about Rs 180.5 crore) against NOK 143 million Rs 132.4 crore) a year ago(about Loss before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, other income and expenses at NOK 136 million was a tad narrower than NOK 140 million in the year-ago period. But it is still higher than NOK 106 million reported in the second quarter this year.

“A step-up in network coverage expansion (in India), which saw 3,100 new sites launched during the third quarter, resulted in increased operating expenditure and capital expenditure,“ Telenor said on its website. This is reflected in a sharply higher capex out flow of NOK 997 million from a paltry NOK 52 million a year ago.

Telenor also said the Rs 810 crore incurred in buying 1800 MHz airwaves in Assam in the February 2014 auction had been “capitalised from September 8, 2014, the date it was issued a letter of intent (LoI)“ for the Assam spectrum.

Uninor has recently received allocation of these 1800 MHz airwaves and is expected to start Assam operations in 2015.

Uninor became a fully-owned unit of Telenor earlier this month after the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) approved its proposal. Apart from Norway and India, Telenor operates in Sweden, Denmark, Hungary , Montenegro and Serbia, Bulgaria, Hungary , Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia and Myanmar.

Quarterly revenue of Telenor's Indian arm, which runs 2G services under the Uninor brand in six circles, climbed over 47% to NOK 1,07.4 billion a year ago, the Scandinavian mobile operator said.

The quarterly revenue spurt was triggered by strong subscriber additions, improved usage primarily from data users and increased consumer market share.