The first signs of Weakness in new Operators is now evident that Uninor [ a JV of Telenor and Unitech Ltd] has confirmed that it will have a focused rollout in majority of 22 circles, while meeting license obligations in all circles. Uninor also said that India capex plans have been scaled down from Rs155 billion earlier to Rs 120-125 billion.
Uninor has just 12,000 base stations installed, much lower than the base stations required for nationwide launch.
This development is an indication of new operators feeling the heat due to tariff wars in Indian
telecom industry. We wait for more such signs especially foreign players’ bids for 3G spectrum – we believe that a quick consolidation would be positive for incumbents.
Uninor had the biggest single day Greenfield GSM launch ever in international telecom history, having a national footprint of close to 600 million on day one. With such a huge launch in India, I am sure Uninor will give others a huge competition.