Vodafone is sorry that there are call drops in India and that it is working with the Modi Government to address the issue, the global telecom giant said on Wednesday.
“We are sorry that there are call drops…and not at the level we want them to be,” Vodafone Group CEO Vittorio Colao told reporters.
Mr. Colao also said that under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Vodafone was seeing a new India, especially at the macro level, and there were positive movements on the ease of doing business. “We are seeing a new India…Is it visible in the every aspect of our business?...No, it’s not but it’s starting to be visible in enough places. If my strong wish is macro level change start tricking down everyday changes,” he added.
In September last year, Mr. Colao had stated that doing business in India was “complicated”.
He appreciated the Modi Government’s policy decision on allowing trading and sharing of scarce telecom spectrum and said that Vodafone was seeing a different posture on what was previously “an aggressive tax environment” in India. On the Government’s decision to abide by High Court rulings on transfer pricing issues, he said: “This is consistent with the statements that government has made to follow certain protocol in this type of discussions.”
On call drops, Mr. Colao said that the issue was linked to the right of ways, the amount of spectrum and other issues on which the company was working with the Department of Telecom. “I can given the Indian subsidiary money to resolve the issue about call drops but this is not about money…it is about operating conditions…more spectrum is needed in Delhi and in Mumbai,” he said.
He, however, did not respond to questions about the findings of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India which suggested that it was the lack of investments by mobiles companies rather than the quantity of spectrum that was reason for heightened call drops.
On Indian IPO, Mr. Colao said no date was available yet though the company was positively inclined.
“We have not made a final decision because there are many factors that influence [the IPO] one way or the other but we are positive,” he added.
