Denied a meeting

Vodafone Global Chief Executive Vittorio Colao is said to have expressed regret to Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad, over comments about the minister and the secretary (telecom) made by the company's India head Sunil Sood. While Colao met Prasad on Wednesday to discuss various issues, including spectrum trading and call drops, Sood was denied a meeting with him and had to wait outside. Prasad expressed his disappointment to Colao, but clarified that "those remarks (Sood's comments) will not be held against Vodafone", according to people in the know. In August, Sood said that "the comments of the (telecom) minister and the secretary don't count as the view of the entire government" on the issue of penalising telecom operators for call drops. The matter was raised with the company and a written explanation was sent to the minister subsequently, blaming the media for quoting Sood out of context. Since making those comments, Sood has not been allowed to meet the minister.