| Type | [[]] |
|---|---|
| Industry | Telecommunications |
| Founded | 2009 |
| Headquarters | Gurgaon, India |
| Key people | Sigve Brekke (MD) |
| Services | Mobile telephony Wireless internet |
| Owner(s) | Telenor Group (67.25%) Unitech Group (32.75%) |
| Employees | 2,000 |
| Website | www.uninor.in |
Uninor is an Indian mobile network operator based in Gurgaon, India. The company holds Unified Access Service(UAS) licences[1] to offer mobile telephony services in each of India’s 22 telecom circles, and has received spectrum to roll out services in 21 of these (excluding Delhi). The company is a joint venture between Telenor Group, a telecommunications company headquartered in Oslo, Norway, and Unitech Group, an Indian real estate company. Telenor owns a controlling majority stake in the company (67.25%), which has been branded Uninor in the Indian market.
Uninor offers mobile voice and data services based on the GSM technology, currently on a 4.4 MHz spectrum. Uninor services are commercially available in 13 circles across India. With a ‘value for money’ proposition in the market, Uninor targets youth and other communities within the Indian mass market.
As of Q2, 2011, Uninor had 26 million customers, 2,200 employees and a sales force of 7,000 people. Uninor products and services are available from a more than 330,000 retail outlets serviced by 1,600 distributors all over the country.
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The company Unitech Wireless was until 2009 a subsidiary of Unitech Group, holding a wireless services licence for all 22 Indian telecom circles since 2008. In early 2009, Unitech Group and Telenor agreed to enter a joint venture where Telenor Group would inject fresh equity investments of INR 61.35 billion into Unitech Wireless to take a majority stake in the company. This was operating capital invested directly in Unitech Wireless by Telenor Group.
Telenor Group conducted these investments in four tranches, and subsequent to approvals from the Indian Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) and the Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs (CCEA) took 67.25% ownership of Unitech Wireless.[2] In September, the company announced its brand name as Uninor.
Uninor launched its first eight circles on 3 December, 2009, after completing one of the world’s largest GSM Greenfield launches which was also one of the fastest telecom roll-outs ever in India. The brand was built around an ambition to serve the young, aspiring India. Six months later, five additional circles were launched including metros like Mumbai and Kolkata, making the brand commercially operational in 13 telecom circles of India. These circles together account for over 75% of India’s population.
Uninor has facilitated rapid scaling of the company through a lean operation model, where a large share of the network infrastructure is outsourced to business partners. With a relatively recent infrastructure in place, Uninor operates one of the most modern GSM networks in the country. Uninor’s modern equipment has enabled it to introduce targeted offerings and serve a large audience with limited spectrum. As the first mobile operator in India, Uninor introduced Dynamic Pricing, a concept that gives consumers discounts that are based on current network traffic at an individual site and change with location and time. About 40% of Uninor’s customers are on a Dynamic Pricing plan.
Over the summer of 2010, the company further simplified its strategy with a focus on three core areas – excellence in mass market distribution, basic services and cost efficient operations. Changes were also made to the product mix and marketing communication – making them simpler, more direct and clearly positioning Uninor as an affordable mass market service.
Uninor has grown from 0 to 26 million customers (as of Q2, 2011) within less than two years, and is now emerging as the most successful of the new entrants that obtained licenses in 2008. The company has more subscribers than all of the other entrants combined.
Launching its Indian operation, Telenor announced a set of financial targets for the new venture. Uninor is targeting an 8% pan-India market share, breaking even on EBIDTA within three years of launch and obtain positive operating cash flow within five years of launch. The operational operational peak funding requirement is set at INR 155 billion.
Uninor’s strategy to reach its targets is based on three strategic pillars;
Uninor will aim to be the best in basic mobile services, i.e. voice and data on a GSM network. Leveraging its modern infrastructure and advanced IT systems, Uninor aims to deliver basic services with better quality at a competitive price point.
Uninor has taken best practices from Telenor Group operations in Asia to build a mass market distribution network of over 330,000 points of sale and 1,600 distributors across its 13 circles. This distribution network is serviced by a comprehensive field sales force, using technology-enhanced equipment and techniques – some for the first time in India.
In a low tariff, low margin market with significant scale disadvantage, cost control and cost efficiency is crucial factors for sustained success. Uninor has focused its innovation on cost excellence across the organization – from optimizing network capacity, reducing network operating costs and energy consumption to a lean model that relies extensively on partnerships and gain sharing.
The name Uninor is composed of the names of the two owners of the joint venture. The logotype, font and the visual expression follows that of the Telenor Group and other Telenor companies. While Telenor business units operate under the Telenor brand in most markets, local aspects and requirements are always considered when deciding upon a brand name.
The tagline ‘baat mein gum hai’ was introduced in the autumn of 2010, reflecting the shift in strategy towards basic services and a mass market approach. The tagline emphasizes Uninor’s ‘value for money’ position, and is further emphasized by simple, clear and light-hearted advertisements where functional product benefits are evident to the audience.
Together with its key technology partners, Uninor has established a lean operating model. Taking the concept of outsourcing to the next level, its transformational partnership model is based on efficiency gain sharing, process focus for continuous improvement and relentless simplification.
Uninor’s main infrastructure and operation is handled by:
Making distribution a key capability of the company, Uninor has a comprehensive network of distributors and retail outlets. This network is serviced by a 7,000-strong field sales force which follows up on everything from customer queries to commissions to stocks of vouchers and SIM cards. Advanced Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems and a handheld device enable real-time information to the sales force, increased transparency and traceability, as well as more efficient processing of requests.
Uninor’s Corporate Office is located in Gurgaon, Haryana, just outside Delhi. It has 13 circle offices, one in each of the circles where its services are commercially available, as well as a number of zonal offices and technical offices.
The circles offices are in:
Unitech Wireless was one of the would-be telecom companies that received 2G licenses in 2008. The method chosen by the authorities to allocate these licenses has later been subject to controversy as part of the 2G license allocation case. Licenses were awarded through a first come-first served process, where eight companies belonging to the Unitech Group were awarded telecom licenses. The licenses obtained by the telecom arm of the Unitech Group were the basis for Telenor Group’s investment into the joint venture. Unitech Wireless companies were later amalgamated into one company, Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) Pvt. Ltd. The Telenor Group invested INR 61.35 billion through new shares to hold 67.25% majority stake in the company. This investment has been used as working capital for the joint venture. Telenor’s investments in Unitech Wireless have been cleared at each stage by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB).
Due to the controversy of the 2G license allocation case, Unitech Ltd.'s Managing Director Sanjay Chandra (who was also earlier the Chairman of the Board of Unitech Wireless) together with the company Unitech Wireless, have come under investigation by the Indian Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). These investigations are connected to Unitech Wireless at a point when the company was fully owned by the Unitech Group. Subsequently, Unitech’s Managing Director and the erstwhile chairman of the board of Unitech Wireless, Sanjay Chandra, together with individuals from other telecom operators were taken into custody in early 2011. This trial is now ongoing in the Indian courts.
Customers can reach Uninor by dialing short number 121. See below table for circle wise numbers.
| Circle | Customer Care # | Short # | Complaints/IVR |
|---|---|---|---|
| Andhra Pradesh | 9059090590 | 121 | 198 |
| Bihar Jharkhand | 9122091220 | 121 | 198 |
| Gujarat | 9173091730 | 121 | 198 |
| Karnataka | 9060090600 | 121 | 198 |
| Kerala | 9061090610 | 121 | 198 |
| Kolkata | 9062090620 | 121 | 198 |
| Maharashtra & Goa | 9175091750 | 121 | 198 |
| Mumbai | 9172091720 | 121 | 198 |
| Orissa | 9124091240 | 121 | 198 |
| Tamil Nadu | 9171091710 | 121 | 198 |
| UP (East) | 9125091250 | 121 | 198 |
| UP (West) | 9058090580 | 121 | 198 |
| West Bengal | 9126091260 | 121 | 198 |
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