Regret call drops in India, can be resolved in 6 months: Vodafone

 Regretting the problem of call drops in India, Vodafone today said the issue can be resolved in six months through "collective efforts".

"My recommendation at my meeting that I had yesterday and today is that if we work together, this thing will go away in six months. It's not about money, it's not about spectrum, it's not about radiation," Vodafone Group CEO Vittorio Colao told reporters here.

He said the problem of call drops is because of operational conditions in the country on which the government is working "positively".

"I am really sorry about the fact that there are (call) drops in India at this level. It's linked to the amount of spectrum that we have, it's linked to the ease of getting permits, right of ways. We are working positively with DoT," Colao said.

"It is not a problem of money, but problem of operating conditions. If we have more spectrum, then we also need to build many more sites. It's vicious cycle -- more sites, more issues, more bureaucratic administrative problems, more drops. If you can break this, I think India will get the same service as the rest."

He termed India as one of "the five big pillars" of Vodafone in the world.
Vodafone, he said, remains the biggest investor in the country and will continue its capital expenditure to the tune of Rs 8,000-8,500 crore annually in the country.

"Thanks to competition, the price of technology is coming down every year. So, physically, more things are going on the ground at same investments. We are not a company that has ups and downs in capex... I believe in constant investments. We have constantly invested in countries, including India," Colao added.

Vodafone is also working with the government on Digital India and financial inclusion programmes.

"I was in Gujarat around January-February when the Prime Minister elaborated his vision for Digital India... I would say it is a good start," Colao said while adding that spectrum sharing and trading will help telecom operators in providing efficient services.

Asked on Vodafone's stand on Net neutrality, the CEO said there should be no discrimination on rules among the same kind of service albeit telecom operators should be allowed to segment Internet services.

"Net neutrality should be about non-discrimination. I should not discriminate among same type of services... but segmentation should be allowed," Colao said.