Plans to invest USD 9 bn over 5-yrs: Kumar Mangalam Birla

Aditya Birla group, which owns the country's third largest mobile operator Idea Cellular, today said it will invest USD 7 billion over the next five years in network roll out, broadband and wi-fi deployment.
Apart from that, the company will invest USD 2 billion over the next five years in Digital India initiatives.
Speaking during the launch of Digital India, Aditya Birla group Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla said the company has invested over USD 15 billion in the telecom industry since entering the sector about 20 years ago.
"Our investments in the telecom industry have been in excess of USD 15 billion wherein we have laid 1 lakh kms of fibre...To further improve this digital infrastructure, we plan to invest an additional USD 7 billion over the next five years in areas such as network roll out, broadband and wi-fi deployment," Birla said.

He further said the company plans to invest USD 2 billion in the next five years in projects falling within the ambit of Digital India initiative such as electronics manufacturing, energy, internet of things and smart cities.
Birla said the group has been involved in digitisation of the country in several ways through Idea Cellular.

"We have to leverage this (company's) vast network to provide mobile based health care and education services and also provide services such as whether forcasting advisories," he added.
The chairman of Aditya Birla group said the company plans to launch a mobile wallet and a payment bank and seamlessly integrate its businesses in three sectors - telecom, financial services and retail - and have a combined customer base of over 200 million across all strata of society.

He also said the company is firming up plans to develop 100 acres in suburbs of Mumbai.
Apart from that, the Group will be launching a new initiative to partner and mentor entrepreneurs, which will provide an opportunity over the next five years to more than 10,000 entrepreneurs creating over a million new jobs.