Will 2010 be the Year of Telenor in India?

Telenor is a mobile phone operator company and it is highly successful in Bangladesh and Pakistan. In India, it is recently entered and has seen some modest success. It is now operating in 8 telecom zones out of 22 in the country. In the first month of operation, it managed to get 1.2 million subscribers in the country. In India, it is known as Uninor.

Right now, in Indian market a price war is going on among the mobile phone companies. In 2009, two foreign companies could attract many customers with successful advertising campaigns. One is Vodafone and the other is DOCOMO.

So, it was perhaps surprising that Uninor did not join the tariff war. Perhaps, they want consolidate their position in the Indian market first and then challenge the established local and foreign players.

An interesting thing is that Airtel of India is now enterting the Bangladeshi market by acquiring 70% stake of Warid in Bangladesh. Telenor in Bangladesh is known as Grameen Phone and for many years, Grameen Phone is the market leader in the mobile phone sector in Bangladesh. So, Telenor may find itself into a tough competition with Airtel in Bangladesh market.