India is running its telecom companies aground to fill a budget hole

High fees, frequent policy flip-flops, endless tax demands from an unsympathetic bureaucracy that treated carriers as cash cows have driven most telecom operators aground.

High fees, frequent policy flip-flops, endless tax demands threaten to run India's top telecom companies aground. (Photo- Bloomberg)

When Arun Sarin, Vodafone Group Plc’s India-born former CEO, was charting the British telecommunications firm’s expansion into emerging markets in the mid-2000s, his home country with more than a billion potential phone users seemed a compelling choice.

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