New Delhi. Debt-laden telecom company Vodafone Idea (VIL) has awarded contracts worth Rs 30,000 crore to Nokia, Ericsson and Samsung for the supply of 4G and 5G network equipment. The company gave this information on Sunday. This contract is for three years. This is the biggest deal given by any Indian telecom operator this year. The company had earlier announced capital expenditure of $ 6.6 billion or Rs 55,000 crore in three years. This deal is the first step in this direction.
The company said in a statement, “Vodafone Idea has signed a major deal of about $ 3.6 billion (about Rs 30,000 crore) with Nokia, Ericsson and Samsung for the supply of network equipment over a period of three years.” The statement said that the aim of this capital expenditure program is to increase the scope of 4G population from 1.03 billion to 1.2 billion, launch 5G service in major markets and expand capacity in line with the growth of data.
Supplies under these new long-term contracts will begin in the next quarter. The statement said that expanding 4G service (coverage) to 1.2 billion Indians is the company’s top priority. VIL CEO Akshay Mundhra said that the company has started the investment cycle and this is the beginning of a new phase.
He said, “From now on, VIL will make an efficient transition to effectively participate in the growth opportunities of the industry. Nokia and Ericsson have been our partners since the beginning and this is another milestone in that continued partnership.” He said, “We are happy to start our new partnership with Samsung. We look forward to working closely with all our partners as we move forward in the 5G era.” Vodafone Idea (VIL) was formed in August 2018 by the merger of Vodafone India and Idea Cellular. At that time it had a customer base of 40.8 crores and was the largest telecom operator.
According to data from telecom regulator TRAI, VIL now has 21.5 crore mobile service subscribers. The company recently raised Rs 24,000 crore through equity sale. VIL said it has completed a techno-economic evaluation of the company’s long-term projections by an independent third party. The report has been submitted to all banks and financial institutions, based on which banks will now proceed with their internal evaluation and approval processes.