Managing Director of Vodafone Idea (Vi), Ravinder Takkar at the Indian Mobile Congress (IMC), 2020, said that the telco lost multiple opportunities of 5G use cases and new partnerships just because of the existing tariffs and the price that government is charging on the spectrum. Adding to the price on the spectrum, its availability is also a major problem. Takkar highlighted that Vi has invested around $30 billion in India and is still focused on its aim of making the country completely digital as soon as possible — more on the story ahead.
Vodafone Idea Invested $30 Billion in India, Still a Going-Concern Business
As per an ET Telecom report, Takkar highlighted two important opportunities that the telecom operators need to focus on. The first one is catalysing India specific 5G use cases along with creating new partnership models and innovative platforms. The aim for these developments will be to impact the different verticals of the society such as education, healthcare, and smart cities amongst more positively. The second thing that Takkar asked the operators to put their focus on is expanding the connectivity services to the people at the bottom of the society or living in backwards or rural areas of the country. He highlighted that the tele-density in rural parts of India is only 59% whereas, in the urban parts, it is a whopping 134%. Approximately 450 million mobile subscribers today don’t have connectivity with a broadband network or don’t own a smartphone in the first place. Takkar also said that Vi has a ready 5G network architecture and the telco will make good use of it to make cities, machines, and citizens of the country smarter than ever. It is worth noting that the telco is closing in on its Rs 25,000 crore fundraise. The only problems which Takkar highlighted during the IMC 2020 were current tariffs, spectrum availability and pricing, taxes, and levies. Vi has earlier said that it won’t shy away from being the first player in the market to increase the tariffs.
