R-Com announces Rs 11k crore capex, welcomes Vodafone

New Delhi, Feb 12 (UNI) India's second largest mobile services provider Reliance Communications today announced a capital expenditure of Rs 11,000 crore (2.5 billion dollars) for the coming financial year.

R-Com, which was among the top bidders for the much-coveted acquisition of Hutchison Essar, also welcomed the entry of British telecom major Vodafone Plc into India.

''We congratulate Vodafone and welcome them to India. Vodafone's participation is a further endorsement of the exciting future growth potential and the progressive policies, prevailing in the Indian telecom sector,'' R-Com Chairman Anil Ambani said in a statement.

Mr Ambani said his company would maintain substantial financial strength and flexibility, while investing a record capex of Rs 11,000 crore in the coming financial year.

On his company's bid, he said, ''Reliance's bid was made in line with our publicly declared and consistent philosophy of sustainable value creation and financial conservatism in the face of truly challenging acquisition valuations.'' NRI business groups Hindujas and Essar were the other bidders in the fray for India's fourth largest telecom operator Hutch-Essar.

UNI