Telewings Communications today said it has approached the Competition Appellate Tribunal (COMPAT) to get a “consolidated clearance” from CCI for Telenor’s plan to increase stake in the company to up to 74 per cent.
Earlier this month, Competition Commission of India (CCI) had approved the proposed 51 per cent stake sale in Telewings —part of Norwegian telecom major Telenor — to Lakshdeep Investments and Finance Pvt Ltd.
“The Competition Commission has already approved investments by our Indian partner in the Telenor Group owned company. With this, the Indian partner will make the first phase of investments to hold 51 per cent stake. This also allows us to proceed with the business transfer process, which is underway,” Telenor group said in a statement.
“Parallely, the tribunal has been approached to get a consolidated clearance for Telenor Group to go up to 74 per cent, after requisite FIPB approvals are received, such that no follow on approvals are required at a later stage,” it said.
While passing the order, the CCI had, however, said the proposed transfer of business from Uninor to Telewings as well as the increase of Telenor stake to 74 per cent in it cannot be considered as intra-group assets transfer.
Telewings Communications petition was mentioned today before a three-member COMPAT bench. The entity sought an early hearing on the issue.
The Bench, headed by Justice V S Sirpurkar, said the matter would be heard in the first week of January, 2013.
Telewings Communication Services had participated in the latest round of 2G spectrum auction and emerged successful bidder in six circles — Andhara Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Maharashtra, UP (East), UP (West).