Vodafone Idea plans Rs 45,000 cr capex in next 3 yrs: Vi CEO

New Delhi, Jan 28 (PTI) Debt-ridden Vodafone Idea is planning to invest Rs 45,000 crore over the next three years to come back on a growth trajectory, a senior official of the company said on Wednesday.

During the company’s earnings call for the third quarter of the current fiscal year, Vodafone Idea (Vi) CEO Abhijit Kishore said the company will expand network coverage in 17 out of 22 telecom circles to bring it at par with competitors and try to convert 2G sites in the five circles in the next three years.

“We are going to commit Rs 45,000 crore of investment over the next three years in this business, and this is in addition to the Rs 18,000 crore that we have already invested over the last six quarters,” Kishore said.

He said that the money

is going to be invested in the network expansion in an extremely aggressive rollout of the network and the company’s strategy of 17 priority markets, 5 rest of the market and focus on 5G.

“We, over the next 30 months, will cover all the markets in the country, which are urban, and urban, here I’m defining as 20,000 plus population towns with 5G. I also need to bridge the gap on 4G.

“Over the next 12 to 24 months, all the 17 priority markets, which contribute to 99.2 per cent of my revenue, will have absolute parity with the competition,” Kishore said.

He said the company is targeting to triple its operating income or EBITDA in the next three years.

Earlier in the day, Aditya Birla Group Chairman KM Birla, in his annual post, said that post Supreme Court judgement bringing clarity in the adjusted gross revenue liability matter and relief from the government, Vi will look beyond survival, with focus on sustainable growth.

A healthy, competitive telecom industry is essential to India’s digital future. India deserves 3 private telecom players. India deserves a successful Vodafone Idea. And this is, once again, an idea whose time has come, Birla said.

Kishore said the company’s satcom service is “still a little far in future”, but the company’s teams are deeply engaged in ensuring regulatory clearances are attained for the services.

“We have a tie-up with AST, which is providing the service. Our sense is it’s still 18 months to 2 years away, but we are absolutely committed to getting that into the non-terrestrial network and that will help us to bring the network and the experience alive in the areas, which we will not be presenting and which is a difficult area,” Kishore said. PTI PRS PRS BAL BAL