Peace laureate fights Telenor over Grameenphone

By Aasa Christine Stoltz and John Acher

OSLO (Reuters) - Nobel peace laureate Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh turned up the heat in battle for control over Bangladesh's Grameenphone on Friday, warning Norwegian co-owner Telenor ASA (TEL.OL) it may face a lawsuit.

Telenor owns 62 percent of Grameenphone, Bangladesh's biggest mobile phone operator. Grameen Telecom, a non-profit unit of Yunus's Grameen Bank, owns the rest and insists that Telenor agreed in 1996 to relinquish control within six years.

Yunus, who shared the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize with his bank for lifting millions out of poverty by granting micro-loans, initially pulled no punches on a visit to Oslo.

"Telenor now tells me that it was a mistake to rely on their words," Yunus said in a statement late on Thursday.

He blamed Telenor for sullying the Grameen name and demanded that Telenor pay all of the $60 million in fines saddled on Grameenphone by Bangladeshi regulators for alleged illegalities.

He softened his stance at a Friday evening news conference, saying a lawsuit was only a "remote possibility."

"We are not the kind of people to rush to the courts."

Telenor said it was "very surprised" by Yunus's statement, but repeated that the 1996 deal was not binding.

"In the conflict regarding the ownership of Grameenphone, Telenor disagrees with Muhammad Yunus that we have an agreement to sell our stake in the company to him," Telenor said. It said that the shareholder agreement stipulated disagreements had to be settled through the Swedish courts.

Telenor shares fell 4.1 percent to close at 77.80 crowns, versus a 2.8 percent drop in the Oslo bourse benchmark index and a similar fall in the DJ Stoxx Telecoms Index .SXKP.

COURT OF PUBLIC OPINION

Yunus urged the Norwegian people to ensure that Telenor, which is 54 percent state-owned, did the right thing.

"I am bringing the case in front of the public opinion court of Norway," Yunus said.

"I am confident the people of Norway will see to it that the companies that they own and control honor their written intention, in all cases, and especially when dealing with the poor women of Bangladesh," Yunus said.

Grameenphone has provided mobiles to 300,000 women in villages who earn a living by letting people use the phones.