Vodafone to invest US$6B in Indian operations

Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin plans to invest US$6 billion in India over the next three years following its US$10.9 billion acquisition of a controlling stake in regional operator Hutchison Essar last May.

“We shall be investing two billion dollars annually for the next three years on our Indian operations,” Sarin told reporters. “We have set a target of reaching a 100 million subscriber base from the current level of 40 million.” Sarin stated that the investment will be used to build telecommunication towers, set up retail outlets and advertising. In addition, Sarin announced that the company will be launching a new range of services in India but declined to elaborate on these offerings.

Meanwhile Sarin also today spoke of his confidence in reaping future benefits from the Chinese market. The operator has a 3.3% stake in China Mobile and is looking to increase its presence in the world’s biggest mobile market. “The Chinese government is clearly looking to open up further,” Sarin told Reuters when asked how open the Chinese government was to foreign investors currently.

“How many foreign investors come in I don’t know. We are in the very fortunate position that we’re investors there already and we’ve developed a terrific relationship with our partners in China over the last six or seven years. So I feel like we’re in pole position and we’ll see what we can make out of that pole position.”