- Concerned over the impact of the recent Supreme Court verdict cancelling 122 2G licences, Norwegian IT Minister Rigmor Aasrud has sought an appointment with her Indian counterpart to discuss the issue as the government braces itself up for diplomatic parleys.
- Ms. Aasrud, Norwegian Minister of government administration, IT and church reforms, arrived in the national capital on a “pre-scheduled visit”.
- “The visit had been planned for more than a month. She is going to Bangalore to visit some of our e-governance institutes there, technology institutions among others,” a senior government official said.
Why is Norway interested?
- Uninor, a joint venture between Telenor of Norway and Unitech, is one of the companies which has its license cancelled.
- Uninor claims to have invested over Rs. 14,000 crore in Indian operations and has a subscriber base of nearly 40 million as of now.
- The senior official said the government is yet to hear from other affected countries through diplomatic channels over the issue.
- However, the government is ready to discuss with its foreign friends how it is taking this (auction) process forward, the official said.
- “We hope that our Norwegian friends would appreciate that this is an outcome of a legal process,” the source said.
