Ambani: Ready for a fight

Mumbai, Feb. 12: Anil Ambani may be gracious in defeat, but he is steeled in his resolve to up the ante as he hunkers down for the bruising battle that lies ahead.

On Monday, Ambani said his group would make a capital expenditure of Rs 11,000 crore (or $2.5 billion) in the next financial year to ramp up operations.

Ambani is clearly gearing up for the challenge and the threat that Vodafone presents. Most of the telecom companies, including Reliance Communications, have been spending Rs 5,000 crore or so as capital expenditure every year in their operations.

So, Reliance Communications’ plan to double that figure signals that Ambani means business.

Ambani has been mulling the option of expanding this GSM network — which is currently concentrated in the east and Northeast — to other parts of the country.

There was no indication whether the new capex plan signalled an aggressive foray into the segment next year.

In his statement, Ambani said, “We congratulate Vodafone and welcome them to India. Vodafone’s participation is a further endorsement of the exciting future growth potential, and the progressive policies, prevailing in the Indian telecom sector.

Speaking about the Reliance bid, he said, “Reliance’s bid was made in line with our publicly declared and consistent philosophy of sustainable value creation, and financial conservatism, in the face of truly challenging acquisition valuations.”