Norway telecom operator Telenor has increased its stake in the Indian joint venture Unitech

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Wireless to 67.25 per cent for Rs 2,022 crore, picking up 7.15 per cent by way of issuance of fresh shares.

This is the fourth round of funding from Telenor group. The Telenor Group has invested Rs 6,135.63 crore through new shares in the joint venture.

In October 2008, Telenor entered into an agreement to pick up 60 per cent stake in Unitech Wireless. In the first phase, Telenor invested Rs 1,250 crore in Unitech Wireless for a 33.5 per cent stake, followed by Rs 1,130 crore for a 15.5 per cent and another Rs 1,493 crore for a further 11.1 per cent. Uninor is the brand name for the joint venture between Unitech wireless and Telenor group. Last year, Uninor had received the FDI approval from the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) to increase foreign holding in the company to up to 74 per cent.

When asked if Telenor plans to increase its stake from 67.25 per cent to 74 per cent, spokesperson of Telenor Group, Christian Storm told Financial Chronicle, “The agreement with Unitech says that our ownership is 67.25 per cent. We have no plans to change that.”

Meanwhile, Telenor on Wednesday reported a 25 per cent jump in fourth quarter net profit to 2.5 billion kroner ($425 million) between October and December last year, from 2 billion kroner the previous year. Revenues of the company declined to 24.2 billion kroner in the fourth quarter, from 25.9 billion kroner in the fourth quarter of 2008.

Managing director of Uninor, Stein-Erik Vellan said, “The (investment) is an important milestone that also demonstrates the continuing confidence of our shareholders in our operation. As earlier, Uninor will utilise this investment as working capital to strengthen its operations in the eight circles launched last year and launch operations in new circles in 2010.”

Unitech Wireless holds a pan-India license to offer mobile telephony services in across 22 telecom circles. The company has received spectrum to roll out these services in 21 circles, barring Delhi.

Uninor aims at achieving EBITDA break-even within 3 years and operating cash flow break-even within five years of launch of operations and a market share of 8 per cent by 2018.