Vodafone to invest 6 bn on India operations

Setting an ambitious target of 100 million cellular subscribers, leading private GSM operator Vodafone-Essar on Monday announced an investment of 6 billion dollars (about Rs 24,000 crore) in the next three years.

"We shall be investing 2 billion dollars annually for the next three years on our Indian operations... We have set a target of reaching 100 million subscriber base from the current level of 40 million," UK-based telecom giant Vodafone's CEO Arun Sarin told reporters in Delhi on Monday.

Asked about the funding of investments, he said the investments would be made from the Vodafone's treasury.

On the issue of ongoing controversy over spectrum allocation, Sarin said: "We hope the issue will be resolved at the earliest... We need more spectrum as the spectrum and the capital expenditure go hand in hand.

"We have presented our views to the Indian government. We are very positive about the government," he said.

Sarin also announced that the company would be launching a range of new services in India, but he declined to elaborate on these new offerings.