Vodafone Idea Chairman calls for ‘enabling regulatory’ environment for telecom sector

Vodafone Idea Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla on Monday said while the telecom operators in the country were committed to support the growth of the industry, the telcos needed an “enabling regulatory environment” to ensure that they had the necessary wherewithal to make commensurate investments to stay at the cutting edge of technology.

“Indian mobile industry is steadfast and committed to creating the foundation for the next phase of growth of the Indian Economy. We look forward to working closely with the government to take the next big leap and become a truly world-beating industry,” Birla said at the inaugural address of the India Mobile congress.

Birla said that in just four years of launching Digital India project, India had become the second fastest digitising economy in the World. “Yes, the Digital contribution to the Indian Economy has crossed 7.5% @ US $ 200 billion, but I believe the journey has just begun,” he highlighted.

Birla said the key enabler of India’s fast paced digital progress was undoubtedly its mobile digital infrastructure backbone. “In the last four years, the Indian telecom sector, led by the top 3 private players, has made significant infrastructure investments of over Rs. 6 lakh crores”, the Vodafone idea chairman highlighted. He further explained that the figure included Vodafone Idea’s investment of Rs. 2 Lakh crore out of the company’s overall gross block investment of Rs. 3.5 lakh crore both in spectrum and capex, to establish pan India 4G broadband infrastructure.

Consequently, Birla said, India’s wireless broadband digital users have risen five times, from 113 million in July 2015 to 604 million in July 2019. “This 600 million strong broadband user base is second only to China and represents 12% of worldwide broadband customers,” he said.

Speaking on the evolution of next generation technologies and their contribution to the society, Birla said, the new exciting trend consumer trend would be driven by innovative technologies like AI, Robotics, Virtual and Augmented Reality, IoT, and Blockchain. “The World is going to witness tremendous growth of connected devices, estimated to cross 100 billion globally as we build smart cities, smart homes, smart automobiles, automated manufacturing and connect everything, with intelligent, immersive and innovative solutions. These tectonic shifts could transform not just the digital but even the business landscape of India as industry boundaries get expanded,” Birla said while elaborating the prospect of future technologies.