FIPB allows more time to Telenor for naming partner

FIPB allows more time to Telenor for naming partner The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) has given more time to Norwegian telecom firm Telenor to announce its new partner.

FIPB has permitted Telenor to hold the name of its partner for some more time and it has also decided to start the process of approving its planned joint venture, according to Uninor managing director Sigve Brekke.

Telenor has asked FIPB for permission to set up a new joint venture after it decided to part ways with its existing partner Unitech. Telenor and Unitech jointly operate the Uninor brand in India through a joint venture. The joint venture between the two is one of the firms that will see its license being cancelled. The two companies have 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 recently 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.

The Company Law Board (CLB) has referred the unfolding dispute between former partners, Norwegian telecom firm Telenor and India’s Unitech, to arbitration on Thursday.

CLB forwarded the dispute over management control and transfer of assets of their joint venture, Uninor to arbitration as per the request of Unitech, which wanted the case to be moved to an arbitration panel.