Vodafone Idea have together invested as much as Rs 9,000 crores in network infrastructure expansion during the year, following the contagious Coronavirus pandemic. Nearly Rs 9,000 crores has been spent by telecom service providers in putting telecom sites and laying optic fibre cable since last one year, SP Kochhar, director-general, Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) told ETTelecom, adding that the industry is fully prepared to serve the evolving needs of customers and ensure highest possible network uptime.
Delhi-based telecom group represents incumbent operators as well as multinational technology vendors such as Nokia, Ericsson, Huawei, Cisco and Juniper.
Kochhar further said that telecom operators have also acquired additional spectrum in the recently-concluded auction, and the deployment of the new or additional spectrum would further enhance network capacity.
Synopsis
The telco reported a narrower net loss for the quarter, while its key parameters such as average revenue per user, minutes of use and subscriber base continued to trail rivals Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio. Its shares closed 2.3% lower at Rs11.80 on the BSE Tuesday.
Agencies
Kolkata:
Vodafone Idea (Vi) will deploy cash from its upcoming Rs 25,000 crore fundraise to boost 4G coverage in its 16 priority circles to effectively combat Reliance Jio and
Bharti Airtel and rein in customer losses.
Vi’s top management, at a quarterly earnings call, said the upcoming “fund raise capital would be used to increase coverage in the 16 priority circles, which contribute to 94% of the telco’s revenues,” BofA Securities, which participated in the call, said in a note seen by ET.