Telecom giant Vodafone on Tuesday has said that call drops in India are linked to amount of spectrum that the company has and they are also linked to the ease of getting permits from the Government. In order to solve this problem, the UK-based company is working with Department of Telecommunication (DoT) positively.
“I am really sorry about the fact that there are call drops in India at the level where we would not like them to be. It’s linked to amount of spectrum that we have, it’s linked to the ease of getting permits, right of ways. We are working positively with DoT,” Vodafone Group CEO Vittorio Colao told reporters here.
Regretting the problem of call drops in India, British telecom firm said the issue is related to operational conditions in the country on which the Government is working positively. “The problem is not related to investments as Vodafone is committed to investing but there are operational issues like permissions to install mobile towers,” he said, adding that 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,” Colao added.
Vodafone, he said, remains the biggest investor in the country and will continue its capital expenditure to the tune of Rs8,000-8,500 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,” Colao said.