Telenor said it was currently in negotiation with vendors on LTE rollout plans
Norwegian telecom operator Telenor is currently holding negotiations with an undisclosed company to expand its operations in the Indian market, Indian newspaper The Economic Times reports, citing Telenor CEO Sigve Brekke.
Telenor India currently has mobile operations in six telecom circles across the Asian country. The telco is currently running an LTE pilot in Varanasi using the 1.4 GHz spectrum band, Brekke said.
According to the executive, the commercial LTE launch will depend on the outcome of the pilot, though Brekke said the operator is looking to launch service in five to eight cities within the next six months, according to the report. The executive also said Telenor needs to obtain more spectrum in order to launch LTE services.
Indian telecom operators Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular have already launched commercial LTE services, while Reliance Jio Infocomm announced plans to launch its LTE service later this year.
Korea holds off on plans to award new mobile license
In other APAC news, South Korea’s Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning said it was holding off on plans to award a fourth mobile telephone license, Korean press reported.
Earlier this month, the government attempted to issue a new license, but the three candidates under review failed to meet the minimum financial and technical requirement during the assessment procedures. The three companies previously under evaluation were Sejong Telecom, K Mobile and Quantum Mobile.
The government said it will not accept new applications for a fourth mobile license for now, though noted the decision is not permanent.
The Korean mobile market is currently dominated by SK Telecom with approximately 50% market share, followed by KT and LG Uplus.
