Most of the board members of Telenor's Indian mobile phone joint venture have given its approval to the sale of business through an auction process.

Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) Pvt, which is the company's joint venture with Unitech Ltd, has already invited interests from potential bidders by August 6, according to Managing Director Sigve Brekke. The joint venture published an auction notice in the media even as the auction is being opposed by Unitech.

Telenor had earlier approached the Company Law Board in India to bar its Indian partner, Unitech from obstructing its plans to operate its operations in India through a new arrangement. Earlier reports had indicated that Telenor might claim cost of losing Indian telecom licenses from Unitech.

The joint venture between the two is one of the firms that will see its license being cancelled due to an order of the apex court in the country. The two companies had decided to end the venture after the Supreme Court of India announced its decision to cancel 122 telecom licenses in the country.

Unitech has said Telenor cannot end the joint venture agreement on its own and said that it has a right to block any transfer of assets. The Company Law Board had asked Unitech to make its position clear on whether it wants to acquire Telenor's stake in the joint venture or sell its own stake to Telenor.

"We will not be able to carry on our business in India after September 7, 2012," a Uninor spokesperson said.