Monday, August 20, 2012

HISTORY OF OUR GREAT SIM CARDS

UNINOR:
Uninor is an Indian mobile network operator based in Gurgaon, India. The company holds Unified Access Service(UAS) licences[1] 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, Norway, 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 5.4 MHz spectrum. Uninor services are commercially available in 13 circles across India. With a ‘value for money’ proposition in the market[citation needed], Uninor targets youth and other communities within the Indian mass market.
As of December 2011, Uninor has 36 million customers and a total workforce of 17,500 people. The company has more than 22,000[citation needed]partners in India. Uninor products and services are available from a more than 375,000 retail outlets serviced by 1,900 distributors all over the country.

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[edit]History

The company Unitech Wireless was until 2009 a subsidiary of Unitech Group, 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.[2] 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.[citation needed] 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.[citation needed] Uninor’s modern equipment has enabled it to introduce targeted offerings and serve a large audience with limited spectrum.[citation needed] 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.[citation needed]
Uninor has grown from 0 to 36 million customers (as of December 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 than double the subscribers of all of the other entrants combined.[citation needed]
Uninor's subscriber numbers and market share, based on numbers as reported by TRAI in June 2011.
Uninor's subscriber market share and circle-wise rank, based on numbers as reported byTRAI in June 2011.

[edit]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 peak funding requirement is set at INR 155 billion.
Uninor’s strategy to reach its targets is based on three strategic pillars;
  • servicing the basics,
  • excellence in mass market distribution and
  • cost efficient operations
Uninor decided to relocate its resources with focus on Kolkata, West Bengal and seven other circles, gradually scaling down its operations in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Orissa Circles.[3]

[edit]Brand

[edit]

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.

[edit]Pay Less. Talk More.

The tagline ‘Pay Less. Talk More.’ was introduced in 2011.[citation needed]

[edit]Operations

[edit]Technology

This section appears to contain a large number of buzzwords. Specific concerns can be found on the talk page. Please help improve this section if you can. (February 2012)
Together with its key technology partners, Uninor has established a lean operating model. Taking the concept of outsourcing to the next level, its transformational partnership model is based on efficiency gain sharing, process focus for continuous improvement and relentless simplification.[clarification needed]
Uninor’s main infrastructure and operation is handled by:

[edit]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.

[edit]Presence

Uninor’s Corporate Office is located in Gurgaon, Haryana, just outside Delhi. 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:

[edit]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 (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 (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.
In February 2012, a special court consisting of two Supreme Court justices issued a judgment in a public interest litigation (PIL) case connected to the 2008 allocation of telecom licenses. The judgment directs the Indian telecom regulator, TRAI, to recommend a process for re-allocation of the 121 licenses that were issued in 2008. The court ordered this process to be concluded within four months, i.e. by June 2012. Uninor services and operations will continue uninterrupted.
Telenor Group on 21 February 2012 announced its intention to form a new entity in India with which its Indian operations will be taken forward. This new entity will serve as the platform to approach the upcoming auctions for fresh licenses as mandated by the Supreme Court. The new entity will also seek requisite approvals from the FIPB to allow Telenor Group to take up 74% ownership.[4]Uninor on 1 August 2012 said it will auction all of its telecom business before it becomes non-operational on September 7, the deadline set by the apex court for winding up of operations of all the firms whose licences had been cancelled. The move has been strongly opposed by the firm's minority stakeholder Unitech and it has threatened to initiate legal action, if Uninor goes ahead with the auction.[5] TELENOR, a majority stake holder in UNINOR said on August 1, 2012 that it will buy out the Unitech Wireless for Rs 4,190 crore, if there are no bidders for the Indian mobile phone operator's assets.[6] Unitech, however, sought on 2 August 2012 stay by the Company Law Board on auction by Telnor of the business in which it has a third of the stake. It also sought a restraint on any sale or transfer of Uninor’s business and assets.[7] Company Law Board on August 3, 2012 stayed Telenor's mobile phone joint venture not to proceed with a planned auction of its assets until its next hearing.[8]

[edit]Chief Executive Officers

[edit]Network Codes (in India)

  • Andhra Pradesh -405819
  • Uttar Pradesh (West) -405818
  • Karnataka -405820
  • Kerala -405821
  • Kolkata -405822
  • Delhi -405844
  • Assam -405875
  • West Bengal -405880
  • Gujarat -404927
  • Maharashtra -405929
  • Orissa - 405813

[edit]Quitting Operations in south India

Uninor has decided to quit the operations in south India due to bad network and as well as low customer database in Orissa, Karnataka, Tamilnadu and Kerala
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