Telenor said that its Indian operation, Uninor, had reached break-even in the first of its operating circles, stating that it expects its remaining regions to achieve the same “in the months to come”.

However, according to Reuters, Jon Fredrik Baksaas (pictured), president and CEO of the Nordic-based group, refused to be drawn on speculation it is set for an alliance with peer Tata Teleservices (TTSL), instead reiterating that its focus is on achieving profitability from its existing operations.

Uninor achieved EBITDA break-even in Uttar Pradesh East, with Telenor claiming that this marks “the fastest break-even by any mobile operator in any circle in India”.

In a recent spectrum auction in India, Telenor spent big to secure spectrum in this market as well as Uttar Pradesh West, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra, enabling it to operate for 20 years.

It was not awarded permits for Mumbai, Kolkata and West Bengal, where it will now close its units.

In the six regions where it holds fresh licences, Uninor serves more than 30 million customers – with more than 7.2 million in Uttar Pradesh East.

Sigve Brekke, MD of Uninor and head of Telenor Asia, said: “What makes this remarkable is that we are now profitable while offering highly competitive tariffs and managing to keep a strong market focus in an extremely challenging business and regulatory environment over the past year.”

Yesterday, it was reported that Telenor and TTSL are set to merge their operations, to create an emboldened rival to established competitors including Airtel, Vodafone, Reliance Communications and Idea Cellular.