Telenor may not get licences for all planned circle areas in India: CFO admits

Telenor may not get licences for all planned circle areas in India: CFO admitsTelenor might not be able to obtain licences for all planned circle areas in India, the Norwegian telecoms firm's chief financial officer (CFO) admitted on Wednesday.

In a presentation to investors, Richard said, "We could end up with fewer than nine circles." He added that the firm foresaw some issues with the pricing of the upcoming licences in the Mumbai area, and also expressed concerns that there was a risk that some spectrum could end up unsold in the auction.

Richard's comments followed Telenor chief executive Jon Fredrik Baksaas's statement that the Norwegian firm was pursuing discussions with several potential new partners in the country.

Baksaas claimed that the talks were being pursued in several directions, but added that was not really anything concrete to announce say about thus far.

A day earlier, Gurgaon district court dismissed separated Telenor's Indian partner Unitech's plea and allowed the the Norwegian firm to participate in the upcoming auction of airwaves with a new partner.

Telenor recently slashed around 1,900 jobs, as a part of a cost-cutting drive. The firm, which has more than 150 million subscribers across Asia and Europe, aims to lift its operating profit 19.1 billion crowns in 2011 to 28-30 billion crowns ($4.90-$5.25 billion) by 2015.