Norway’s Telenor is reportedly close to acquiring a 26 percent stake in Unitech Wireless, a regional Indian GSM licensee, according to local press reports. India’s Economic Times notes that Telenor has bid US$500 million for the stake, which values the company at around US$2 billion. This is below Unitech’s own valuation of around US$3 billion, the report says, but cites sources saying that Unitech will still accept the offer. However, Unitech managing director Sanjay Chandra told the publication that the company is “still negotiating with many parties and [is] at least a month away from finalising the partner.” Previous talks with Telecom Italia and an unnamed Asian telco are understood to have failed because the foreign companies would not meet Unitech’s US$3 billion valuation.

Unitech Wireless, which is owned by India’s second-biggest real estate developer, is one of the six new companies that were successful in winning Indian GSM licences earlier this year. According to Economic Times, the company expects to launch services in first-quarter 2009 and invest INR20,000 crore (US$4.4 billion) in the business over the next three years. It has obtained licences to operate in all 22 Indian telecom circles and has been allotted initial spectrum in 10 service areas. All the new licensees are reportedly in the process of securing funding and investment in order to launch services. Telenor has been previously linked with Loop Telecom, another new regional Indian operator.