Sarin meets Maran; discusses India plans

BARCELONA: Within a day of acquiring India's fourth largest mobile operator Hutch-Essar, Vodafone's CEO Arun Sarin on Monday met Communications and IT Minister Dayanidhi Maran and is understood to have briefed him about the company's future plans in India.

"This is just the beginning," Maran said, commenting on the Hutch-Vodafone deal.

"India's telecom growth story is really interesting. Once the tele-density crosses 25 per cent, the growth curve will become even steeper," he said.

Asked about the valuation of Hutch-Essar, the Minister declined to comment, saying: "It is between the two companies and I have nothing to say on that."

Maran also hailed the UPA government's policies which have contributed a lot to the Indian telecom growth story.

Maran hoped that the number of mobile users in India, which is currently 150 million, would touch 250 million by end of 2007 and 500 million mark in the next three years (by 2010).

The meeting between Maran and Sarin lasted for about 25 minutes.