By Telecom Lead Team: Mobile major Telenor is becoming
aggressive in Indian and Pakistan telecom markets by filing or planning to file
lawsuits against its partners.
In India, Telenor wants to separate from its joint
venture partner Unitech, while the telecom giant has reportedly filed separate
lawsuits against Nokia Siemens Network and Huawei Pakistan in
Pakistan. The matter was moved to court for arbitration over a dispute over an agreement between
Huawei Pakistan and Telenor Pakistan.
2G Spectrum Impact: Telenor to separates from Unitech
The recent Supreme Court order on 2G spectrum has caused
another major casualty. Norwegian telecom company Telenor has sought to
separate its Indian mobile venture Uninor from its tainted partner
Unitech.
Uninor was one of the worst affected by the Supreme
Court’s rule earlier this year that scrapped 122 mobile licensed issued under
the Raja regime. Unitech held 22 of these licenses.
In Pakistan, Huawei was supposed to offer
managed network services to Telenor Pakistan for three years,
starting April 2011, according to a report in Pakistan media. There was an
earlier agreement under which Huawei had absorbed Telenor Pakistan’s whole
department for Network Security and Maintenance.
Aamer Izhar Ul Haq, vice president – Corporate
Affairs & Security at Telenor Pakistan said that Telenor is involved
in separate legal proceedings with the Nokia Siemens Network and Huawei without
mentioning the details. Telenor Pakistan recently awarded ZTE a countrywide
end-to-end network swap contract valuing $850 million to beat NSN and
Huawei’s price.
In India, Unitech responded to Telenor’s reaction saying
it would take the Norwegian telco to court. “We reserve our right to take
appropriate legal action against Telenor for damages caused to Unitech Group
from breach of the confidentiality obligation by Telenor,” a company
spokesperson said.
The bitterness in the relationship started in 2011 when
Unitech refused to participate in Uninor’s 8,200-crore rights issue in 2011.
Following the arrest of Unitech’s Sanjay Chandra, the relationship got worse.
Meanwhile Unitech filed case against Telenor citing gross mismanagement of
their joint venture.
More telecom lawsuits are expected to surface in these
hyper competitive telecom markets in the coming months.
