Vittorio Colao, CEO, Vodafone Group met union minister of communications, Manoj Sinha and requested for a predictable policy regime.
"Since an affordable telecom service is essential for digital inclusion of rural India, we requested a predictable policy regime with a level playing field and a fair application of GST and other levies,†said Vittorio Colao, CEO, Vodafone Group.
Vittrio Colao thanked the minister and the government for introducing several progressive policies and practices over the last couple of years, including the first mega spectrum auction which will enable Vodafone to quickly roll out 4G services and offer Vodafone SuperNet experience in more circles.
During the meeting, Vittrio Colao reaffirmed Vodafone's commitment to India and to supporting the government’s thrust on financial inclusion by expanding M-pesa service.
Recently, Vodafone India has acquired spectrum in all its key telecom circles in the spectrum auction for a total cost of Rs 20,280 crore. The new spectrum significantly enhances the coverage, capacity and speed of Vodafone India’s 4G data services in its key circles, complementing existing high-quality 2G and 3G voice and data capabilities.
Vodafone India successfully acquired a total of 2x82.6 MHz FDD and 200 MHz TDD spectrum in the auction, providing high-capacity, multi-band 4G capability operating across the 1800, 2100 and 2500 MHz bands. Vodafone India has 17 circles with 4G capability, covering 90 per cent of the company’s total revenues and 94 per cent of mobile data revenues.
Vodafone India has more than 200 million customers. At 30 June 2016, Vodafone India had 69.7 million data users, of which 32.3 million use 3G/4G.
