Open for consolidation but not obsessed with buying: Vodafone

Vodafone, the nation's second largest telecom firm, today said it is open for consolidation in India in case the deal is financially viable.
"I think we are open to looking at consolidation in India but ofcourse, it must make sense from a financial point of view...We can't throw our money just for the sake of consolidation," Vodafone Group CEO Vittorio Colao told mediapersons here.
The head of world's second largest telecom group said consolidation has to happen in India as there are too many players as of now and the returns on the capital invested is low.
Colao said there is a mis-perception that number of telecom players in a country depends on its population.

"Almost in no country, you have more than five operators and usually the fifth is up for sale," Colao said.
Asked if Vodafone is looking to acquire other company, he said, "My job is to keep my mind open...You need a right price. I am not obsessed with buying in India because we are doing very well the way we are."

Colao, who is on a short visit to India, also released the fourth edition of its annual sustainability report.
On the occasion, Colao presented a cheque of Rs 12 million to Safeena Hussain of Vodafone Foundation's NGO partner, Educate Girls.

Vodafone India Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Marten Pieters said the company has always maintained it wants to be part of consolidation because its good for the market and Vodafone can "afford" it.
Pieters, however, said the conditions are not there be it the merger and acquisition rules, spectrum sharing and trading which can facilitate the consolidation process.
Pieters added there are still many uncertainties for the company to grapple with such as next spectrum auction, where it has to get airwaves to keep operations running.
"There are a few big circles which are coming for renewal and we have to bid back our spectrum, the situation is really bad. Last auction we had to do the same thing in metros but atleast we had 1800 MHz spectrum to fall back on but now we have few circles where there is no additional spectrum available, so our business is more or less put up for sale," he said.

The Vodafone India head has termed it as "predatory competition" because actually it means that anybody can bid for free for its business.
"If we don't get the spectrum, simply means we have to close down operations because there is no fall back option," Pieters said.