NEW DELHI: Debt-laden telecom operator Vodafone Idea Limited (VIL) is in talks with American retail giant Amazon to invest up to Rs 20,000 crore in the telco. According to reports, Vodafone Idea, the third-largest India telco, will use the proceeds to bid for the upcoming 5G spectrum.
The report suggests the reason for Amazon to invest in Vodafone Idea as it is the only major cloud services giant without a telecom partner. In the past two-three years, US tech giants Facebook, Google, and Microsoft have invested in the top two telecom operators in the country – Reliance Jio Infocomm and Bharti Airtel to strengthen their cloud offerings in India.
Apart from Amazon, the Aditya Birla group-led telco is also in talks with several private equity investors who are planning to take exposure to the Indian telecom sector. Vodafone Idea, in its fourth-quarter results, showed signs of revival as it added more than 1 million new 4G subscribers while its consolidated operating profits grew 22%, aided by recent tariff hikes. This investment from Amazon will enable it to compete with rivals Airtel and Reliance Jio.