India is set to grant Telenor the necessary security clearance to increase its stake in Unitech Wireless to the legal maximum of 74%, with the condition that no employees from Telenor’s Pakistan subsidiary work for the Indian company.
According to the Economic Times newspaper, the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) was due to approve the investment, but delayed its decision pending a review of the security situation. The idea is that keeping the human assets of Telenor’s Indian and Pakistani arms separate is expected to take care of risks such as spying and subversion.
On the similar note, there have been unconfirmed rumors that Telenor is talking to China Mobile about selling its Pakistan subsidiary.
For the record, Unitech Wireless has pan-Indian telecommunications licences in all 22 telecom circles, and plans to launch its services in mid 2009.
[Via: CellularNews]