India fastest growing for Telenor

The company said its Indian entity registered a 38% growth in July-Sept quarter

For Norwegian telecom operator Telenor, India has emerged as the fastest growing market globally.

Its Indian entity Telewings Communications, which operates Uninor brand, on Wednesday reported a 47% increase in revenue at NOK 1.07 billion (Rs 989.61 crore as on Wednesday's exchange rate) in July-September quarter from NOK 729 million reported in the corresponding quarter previous fiscal year.

The company, however, said in a statement that the Indian entity registered a 38% growth in the July-September quarter. Besides Norway and India, Telenor operates in Sweden, Denmark, Hungary, Montenegro and Serbia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia and Myanmar.

However, the company's operating loss from Indian operations widened to about NOK 195 million in July-September quarter from NOK 170 million in the previous quarter and NOK 143 million in the July-September quarter 2013.

The company stated that operating and capital expenditure of Uninor to network expansion during the quarter has increased. It has already announced setting up 5,000 new mobile tower sites during current fiscal year, of which 4,400 are already deployed.

Average revenue per user (Arpu) stood at Rs 104 for the quarter, down from Rs 108 in the previous quarter. Uninor added 1.8 million new subscribers in the six operating circles during the third quarter, lower than two million net additions in the previous quarter.

"We added 3.4 million new mobile subscribers during the period, fuelled by customer uptake in India, Bangladesh, Malaysia and our newest market Myanmar," Jon Fredrik Baksaas, President and CEO, Telenor Group, said in a statement.

Average minutes per user also dipped to 425 minutes for July-September quarter, down 5.3% from 449 minutes in the April-June quarter.

"The demand for Internet has consistently been growing. Uninor recorded a year on year growth of 72% in Internet subscribers and 131% in Internet revenues in the quarter," said Morten Karlsen Sorby, CEO, Uninor. Uninor has around 19% subscribers accessing Internet services actively.