Vodafone has announced plans to spend US$2 billion a year over the next three years expanding its Indian network coverage and improving service quality. He also said that the company would be launching a range of new services, but did not elaborate on what and when.
Speaking during a visit by the UK Prime Minister to India, Vodafone's CEO Arun Sarin said "We shall be investing $2 billion annually for the next three years on our Indian operations... We have set a target of reaching 100 million subscriber base from the current level of 40 million,"
On the thorny issue of radio spectrum allocation, Sarin said: "We hope
the issue will be resolved at the earliest... We need more spectrum as the
spectrum and the capital expenditure go hand in hand. We have presented our
views to the Indian government. We are very positive about the government,"
he said, adding that "we have received spectrum
ourselves, in six out of seven circles... so that we can build a
national footprint here."
He also ruled out any talk of an IPO for the Indian company in the short term saying that he wanted to build up the company operations before any possibilities would be explored in that direction. The funding for the US$6 billion of expenditure would come from company resources.
Posted to the site on 21st January 2008
Posted to: www.cellular-news.com/story/28722.php