Vodafone Idea says it has invested $30 billion in India and remains committed to ‘Digital India’. The telco’s managing director (MD) Ravinder Takkar highlighted that there were opportunities for 5G use cases, partnerships, and innovation but tariffs, taxes levied on spectrum availability and pricing remain a challenge.
“The industry has the right structure with four operators, providing adequate competition and innovative services to Indians across the country.
On our part, we have invested nearly 30 billion dollars over the years and remain long term committed to being a partner for Digital India,” said Takkar at the India Mobile Congress (IMC) 2020.
The MD’s comments come at a time when Vi has Rs 50,400 crore to pay in terms of statutory dues over the next 10 years, is battling the government over one-time spectrum charges, and has continued to term the business as a ‘growing concern’ in its September results.
Looking ahead, we have two distinct opportunities and roles for operators. First, catalyzing India specific 5G use cases, creating innovative platforms and partnership models that will positively impact different industry verticals like healthcare, education, smart cities among others,” said Takkar.
Vi and Airtel will have to play catchup with rival Reliance Jio which is now the only telco claiming that it has developed a homegrown 5G ecosystem.
“Second, getting the bottom of the pyramid citizens to adopt digital for ensuring inclusive growth. Rural teledensity is just 59 percent vs 134 percent urban teledensity and nearly 450 Mn existing mobile subscribers still are not connected to Broadband or don’t own a smartphone,” he added.5g