NEW DELHI: The government has no plans to take over loss-making telecom company Vodafone Idea Limited (VIL), said Devusinh Chauhan, Minister of State for Communications, on Wednesday.
In a written reply to the parliament, the minister categorically rejected the idea of a government takeover of the telco. “No such proposal is under consideration in the Department,” said the minister. The government acquired 33.1% stake in VIL in February of this year. This acquisition occurred when the telecom department converted the company’s accrued interest on deferred adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues, amounting to Rs 16,133 crore, into equity.
The government, despite being the largest shareholder, doesn’t interfere in the daily decisions of the joint venture between Vodafone Group PLC and Aditya Birla Group. The company has received extensions for payments, and the government emphasises a hands-off approach in its operations. Meanwhile, VIL said it had joined forces with Anritsu, a test and measurement equipment provider, to improve the calling experience for VIL customers using Voice over LTE (VoLTE) in the country. VIL emphasised the importance of maintaining a high-quality voice service for an excellent customer experience and announced the implementation of Anritsu’s VoLTE monitoring solution on Wednesday.
“Maintaining a high-quality voice service is vital to ensure excellent customer experience. Keeping this in mind, Vi has implemented a VoLTE monitoring solution of Anritsu,” said the company on Wednesday.
The solution will empower VIL to provide faster call connectivity and clearer sound quality. It aims to enhance efficiency by swiftly detecting and demarcating VoLTE service issues, offering an improved view of service-specific insights.