Uninor
Encyclopedia
Uninor is a mobile operator in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. The company holds Unified Access Service(UAS) licences 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
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...

, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

, 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.

History

The company Unitech Wireless was until 2009 a subsidiary of Unitech Group
Unitech Group
The Unitech Group is India's second largest real estate investment company, and has recently claimed to be the largest real estate builder in the country.....

, 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. 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.

Strategy

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;
  1. servicing the basics,
  2. excellence in mass market distribution and
  3. cost efficient operations



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.



Name and logo

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.



Baat mein dum hai

The tagline ‘baat mein dum hai’ (‘it makes more sense’) 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.



Technology

Together with its key technology partners, Uninor has established a lean operating model. Taking the concept of outsourcing
Outsourcing
Outsourcing is the process of contracting a business function to someone else.-Overview:The term outsourcing is used inconsistently but usually involves the contracting out of a business function - commonly one previously performed in-house - to an external provider...

 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:
  • Alcatel-Lucent
    Alcatel-Lucent
    Alcatel-Lucent is a global telecommunications corporation, headquartered in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France. It provides telecommunications solutions to service providers, enterprises, and governments around the world, enabling these customers to deliver voice, data, and video services...

    , Huawei
    Huawei
    Huawei is a Chinese multinational networking and telecommunications equipment and services company headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China...

    , Nokia Siemens Networks
    Nokia Siemens Networks
    Nokia Siemens Networks is a global data networking and telecommunications equipment company headquartered in Espoo, Finland. It is a joint venture between Nokia of Finland and Siemens of Germany...

    , ZTE
    ZTE
    ZTE Corporation formerly Zhongxing Telecommunication Equipment Corporation is a Chinese multinational telecommunications equipment and systems company headquartered in Shenzhen, China...

     and Ericsson
    Ericsson
    Ericsson , one of Sweden's largest companies, is a provider of telecommunication and data communication systems, and related services, covering a range of technologies, including especially mobile networks...

     for the core and radio infrastructure
  • Telcordia for the infrastructure (IN) solution
  • Wipro
    Wipro
    Wipro Limited formally Western India Products Limited is a global IT services and consulting company headquartered in Bangalore, India. As of 2011, Wipro is the second largest IT services company by turnover in India and employs more than 120,000 people worldwide as of March 2011...

     for the company's IT services
  • VIOM as the main infrastructure provider



Distribution

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.



Presence

Uninor’s Corporate Office is located in Gurgaon
Gurgaon
Gurgaon is the second largest city in the Indian state of Haryana. Gurgaon is the industrial and financial center of Haryana. It is located 30 km south of national capital New Delhi, about 10 kilometers from Dwarka Sub City and 268 km south of Chandigarh, the state capital...

, Haryana
Haryana
Haryana is a state in India. Historically, it has been a part of the Kuru region in North India. The name Haryana is found mentioned in the 12th century AD by the apabhramsha writer Vibudh Shridhar . It is bordered by Punjab and Himachal Pradesh to the north, and by Rajasthan to the west and south...

, just outside Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...

. 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:
  • Kochi
    Kochi
    -Places:* Kochi, a city in the state of Kerala, India, formerly known as Cochin* Kingdom of Cochin, a former feudal city-state on Malabar Coast, India** Fort Kochi, one of the three main urban components which constitute the present day city of Kochi, Kerala, India...

     – Kerala circle
  • Chennai
    Chennai
    Chennai , formerly known as Madras or Madarasapatinam , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the sixth most populous city in India...

     – Tamil Nadu circle
  • Bengaluru – Karnataka circle
  • Hyderabad – Andhra Pradesh circle
  • Bhubaneswar
    Bhubaneswar
    Bhubaneswar is the capital of the Indian state of Orissa, officially Odisha. The city has a long history of over 2000 years starting with Chedi dynasty who had Sisupalgarh near present-day Bhubaneswar as their capital...

     – Orissa circle
  • Kolkata
    Kolkata
    Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...

     – Kolkata circle, West Bengal circle
  • Patna
    Patna
    Paṭnā , is the capital of the Indian state of Bihar and the second largest city in Eastern India . Patna is one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in the world...

     – Bihar & Jharkhand circle
  • Lucknow
    Lucknow
    Lucknow is the capital city of Uttar Pradesh in India. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of Lucknow District and Lucknow Division....

     – Uttar Pradesh East circle
  • Noida
    Noida
    Noida , short for the New Okhla Industrial Development Area, is an area in India under the management of the New Okhla Industrial Development Authority . Noida came into administrative existence on 17 April 1976 and celebrates 17 April as "Noida Day". It was set up as part of an urbanization...

     – Uttar Pradesh West circle
  • Pune
    Pune
    Pune , is the eighth largest metropolis in India, the second largest in the state of Maharashtra after Mumbai, and the largest city in the Western Ghats. Once the centre of power of the Maratha Empire, it is situated 560 metres above sea level on the Deccan plateau at the confluence of the Mula ...

     – Maharashtra & Goa circle
  • Mumbai
    Mumbai
    Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...

     – Mumbai circle
  • Ahmedabad
    Ahmedabad
    Ahmedabad also known as Karnavati is the largest city in Gujarat, India. It is the former capital of Gujarat and is also the judicial capital of Gujarat as the Gujarat High Court has its seat in Ahmedabad...

     – Gujarat circle



Controversies

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
Foreign Investment Promotion Board
The Foreign Investment Promotion Board is a national agency of India, with the remit to consider and recommend foreign direct investment which does not come under the automatic route....

 (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
Central Bureau of Investigation
The Central Bureau of Investigation is a government agency of India that serves as a criminal investigation body, national security agency and intelligence agency. It was established on 1 April 1963 and evolved from the Special Police Establishment founded in 1941...

(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.



Customer Service

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 9059090590 121 198
UP (East) 9125091250 121 198
UP (West) 9058090580 121 198
West Bengal 9126091260 121 198

Network Codes

  • Andhra Pradesh -405819
  • Uttar Pradesh (West) -405818
  • Karnataka -405820
  • Kerala -405821
  • Kolkata -405822
  • Delhi -405844
  • Assam -405875
  • West Bengal -405880
  • Gujarat -404927
  • Maharashtra -405929

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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