Vodafone Denies Reports Of Exiting Indian Telecom Market

Vodafone has finally quashed the ongoing rumors of stopping its India operations. In a statement to all media houses, the company clarifies that these rumors are baseless. "Vodafone is aware of the unfounded and baseless rumors circulating in some of the Indian media that we have decided to exit the market. We would like to categorically state that this is not true and is malicious," the company said in a statement.

Adding to that, "Vodafone is actively engaging with Government and we are fully supportive of our local management as they continue to manage our joint venture in these challenging times."

On the other hand, the merged entity of Vodafone India and Idea Cellular, which is India's largest operator in terms of subscriber base, informed the stock exchange, that they cannot comment on this matter.

The merged entity said that " As regards exit of India operations by Vodafone Group is concerned, we wish to inform you that the company is not aware of anything on the subject as it pertains to Vodafone Group and, hence, cannot comment on the same."

The statement comes a day after the news agency reported that the UK- based telecom operator is planning to leave India due to its mounting debt. For the unaware, the combined entity has already completed the network integration process in 11 circles. And it is expected that the company will complete the process by June 2020.

But still, the company is going through tough times, as they are losing millions of subscribers every month. Its subscriber base has declined to 320 million from 334.1 million. Furthermore, the company has reported a loss of Rs. 4,873.9 crore in the June quarter. Besides, the Supreme Court wants them to pay Rs. 28,309 crore to the government in three months' time, which will have financial implications for the operator.