The tower sharing agreement allows Unitech Wireless to mount its mobile network antennas onto existing as well as new towers to be built by Tata and Quippo. These two tower companies are currently in the process of merging their businesses to become one of India's largest tower companies with the scale benefits that this offers.
"The tower and transmission agreements are key elements in the process of closing our Unitech Wireless deal, and will enable Unitech Wireless to embark on a swift and cost-efficient roll-out," said Jon Fredrik Baksaas, President and CEO of Telenor.
The tower-sharing agreement covers approximately 40,000 sites, of which approximately 22,000 sites will be in place by April 2009. The remaining towers will be built in 2009 and 2010 in accordance with Unitech Wireless' needs. The tower sharing and transmission agreements both have 20-year terms with options to extend the contracts for a subsequent 5-year period.
Further process
Telenor Group and Unitech Group will seek to have the remaining conditions for completion of the transaction fulfilled during Q1 2009.
For further information, please contact:
Media:
Pål Kvalheim, Vice President Communication, Telenor Group, Phone: +47 970 44 970
Esben Tuman, Information manager, Telenor Asia, Phone: +66 859 184 111,
To the editorial offices:
Analyst and press conference
Telenor will present further details regarding its investment plans for Unitech Wireless in an analyst and press conference on Friday, February 13th at 2 PM in Auditorium A at Telenor Expo Visitors' Centre, which is located at Telenor's Headquarters at Fornebu outside Oslo.
Internet and mobile broadcast
The analyst and press conference will be broadcast live over the Internet, and will also be available as a recording after the conference. The live service also allows for written questions to be submitted. In addition, the conference will be available live and as a recording on mobile phones with 3G, GPRS or EDGE.
For more details please visit http://www.telenor.com/en/investor-relations/
Conference Call and Q&A
You may also call in and listen to the presentation over the phone. This service allows you to ask questions at the Q&A session at the end of the presentation. For details, see http://www.telenor.com/en/investor-relations/
To participate in the Conference Call please register before the conference starts by calling (+47) 800 80 119 (from Norway) or (+47) 23 00 04 00 (from Norway or abroad).
Material
The presentation used will be made available on http://www.telenor.com/en/investor-relations/
