Norway based Telenor has served a notice to the government intimidating international arbitration and claiming damages of nearly $14 billion (Rs 700 billion).
Telenor?s telecom joint venture in India with Unitech Wireless is one of the several companies whose licence has been revoked by the Supreme Court.
Telenor had entered the Indian market through its Singapore arm and has recently invoked the provisions within India’s Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement with Singapore. It has issued a notice to the Indian government seeking a solution within six months or take the matter for an international arbitration for failure to protect its investment.
In its notice, the company has stated that its investments in India are based on licences issued by the government in accordance with their own policy and process, and has cited approvals from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board and the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, to confirm that it had complied with the said procedure.
The notice also cites CCEA?s clauses stating that the compensation has to be equivalent to the market value of the expropriated investment at the time of the decision, which in case of Unitech Wireless is February 2, 2012, when the Supreme Court cancelled the licences. Telenor claims to have invested close to $14 billion in its Indian operations.
Currently, Telenor holds a 67 per cent stake in Unitech Wireless and is also facing difficulties with its Indian partner Unitech and is planning to look for another local partner.
For the government this is the second such notice after Sistema invoked the provisions of the India-Russia Investment Agreement recently.
