The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Oslo

Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus may launch legal proceedings against Telenor to force the Norwegian telecom operator to honour a deal concerning their joint subsidiary in Bangladesh, GrameenPhone, he said.

Telenor owns 62 percent of Grameen Phone, while Yunus' Grameen Bank, with whom he shared the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for creating a micro-credit system for people too poor to qualify for bank loans, holds a 38-percent stake through a subsidiary.

"The recent activities (of GrameenPhone) in Bangladesh leave me with little alternative other than to investigate the possibility of taking legal action to protect the interests of the millions of poor people in Bangladesh," Yunus said in a statement late Thursday.

The poor would be "the ultimate beneficiaries" if the country's largest mobile phone operator "comes under Bangladeshi ownership and management to become a company with social objectives," he added.

GrameenPhone, which is largely run by Telenor, has been rep eatedly lambasted following allegations of deplorable conditions for employees, including children as young as 13, working for its suppliers.

Even after ethical procedures were tightened earlier this year, the company has been linked to sub-contractors that use child labour.

Following allegations of another child labour case connected with GrameenPhone, Yunus on Thursday lashed out at Telenor, accusing the Norwegian company of being insensitive and inefficient in improving conditions.

Yunus's comments follow years of struggle with Telenor over control of the lucrative GrameenPhone.

In 1996, the Norwegian company agreed to transfer majority control of the subsidiary to the Bangladeshis within a six-year period, but never did.

Telenor insists today that the deal was not legally binding.

Yunus, dubbed "the banker of the poor," meanwhile is determined to turn the mobile operator into a "social business" that reinvests its income in social projects in Bangladesh instead of handing out cash to shareholders.

"I remain hopeful however that such legal action will prove unnecessary because the owners of Telenor will require the company to honour the intention it expressed in 1996 to transfer ownership and control of GrameenPhone to the poor of Bangladesh," he said Thursday.

Following a meeting between Telenor chief executive Fredrik Baksaas and Yunus on Thursday, the company said it was disappointed by his position.

"We are very disappointed and surprised by the shift that has taken place following this meeting," Telenor spokesman Paal Kvalheim told AFP, refusing to comment further.