The Indian mobile operator Bharti Airtel is considering buying Telenor’s India business for $ 350 million, according to the Indian newspaper Economic Times .
With Monday’s exchange rate , the amount equals slightly in excess of three billion Norwegian kroner, reports the newspaper Dagens Næringsliv, citing news agency TDN Finans.
According to the news service , Bharti Airtel will probably take more than half of Telenor’s India commitments whilst Telenor retains the other half.
Telenor owes the Indian state 2.5 billion kroner in licensing fees and has commitments of around 2.2 billion to financial institutions, according to Indian media.
In December last year several Indian media sources announced that Telenor was in talks with rival Idea Cellular. Talks with British Vodafone has been fruitless.
Telenor will not confirm the information.
– Telenor as a principle never comments on speculations or rumors in the market about what we plan to do or not , says their communications director Glenn Mandelid to Dagens Næringsliv.
Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today
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