The telecom world is abuzz with the talks of Vodafone to exit India any day after its losses have started to increase for the company.
Vodafone to Exit India?
British telecom giant Vodafone is reportedly looking to exit the Indian market amidst mounting losses and an eroding subscriber base. The final Coup de grâce for the company is believed to be the recent Supreme Court verdict that determined the firm owes the Indian government more than Rs. 28,000 crore in outstanding taxes, penalties, and interest.
IANS sent an email questionnaire to a Vodafone-Idea spokesperson in India. IANS, in turn, was asked to direct the queries to Ben Padovan, Group Head of Corporate Communications, Vodafone Group Plc. There was no reply to the questionnaire as of now.
The talk of the town is “they might pack any moment” and leave as operating losses mount in the joint venture company, Vodafone-Idea, loss of lakhs of subscribers every month.
The joint venture of Vodafone and Idea didn’t bring on the results as they expected, but in reverse started losing customers and operating costs increased.
Vodafone Idea said in a statement on Wednesday: “There has been reportage in some media alleging that Vodafone Idea has approached its lenders for debt recast. We categorically deny and dismiss this as baseless and factually incorrect. We have not made any request for debt recast to any lender or asked for a reworking of payment terms. We continue to pay all our debts as and when these falls due”.
As of now, there is no concrete evidence that Vodafone is going to default on the fines that were put in place by the Supreme Court. The future is the only judge for what the next step of Vodafone will be.