The end to services there follows the Supreme Court of India cancelling the operator's licences in an order in February, due to irregularities in the awards process. As the company has not acquired new licences in these areas, it must halt the services by the court-appointed deadline of 19 January. In another 12 circles where Uninor had licences and only a small presence, services will also cease on 19 January 2013 due to the same Supreme Court order.
Operations in the Mumbai circle are continuing as parent company Telenor is considering bidding for new spectrum licences in this area. The Indian authorities have indicated a new spectrum auction should take place in early 2013. A Telenor spokesman told the Economic Times that the company was looking at asking the Department of Telecom to extend its licence in Mumbai until the auction takes place.
Telenor still has valid licences and spectrum for the next 20 years in the six circles of UP east, UP west, Bihar (including Jharkhand), Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra (including Goa) through its new venture Telewings. The Uninor business will be transferred to Telewings; this process has already been initiated.
Uninor will look to relocate some of its employees from Kolkata and West Bengal to other circles and also provide assistance in securing employment outside the company. The company will also hire outplacement agencies to assist its employees.
In the two circles of Kolkata and West Bengal, Uninor has a total subscriber base of 5.6 million, of which 57 percent are active on VLR as reported by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. Uninor has also dropped the 90-day lock in to allow customers to port-out even if they have taken up a Uninor subscription less than 90 days ago. The company has suspended the supply of new Sim cards and recharges in Kolkata and West Bengal circles with immediate effect, as per the licence guidelines. In all circles where Uninor services will no longer be available after 18 January 2013, the company will make a roaming arrangement.
Uninor expects a number of network sites to be freed up as a result of the closure of operations in the two commercial and twelve minimum-rollout circles. While there are no immediate plans towards this, the company will evaluate options to relocate this network infrastructure over time to the circles where its operations are continuing. Towards this, initial dialogue with each of the network partners is underway.
