NEW DELHI: Vodafone Idea (Vi) on Monday announced that the company’s ongoing efforts to raise debt funding are expected to conclude in the next two months.
Vi chief executive Akshaya Moondra, during an analyst call, mentioned that Vi has begun fresh dialogue with the government regarding the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues issue following the Supreme Court’s order.
Last week, the apex court dismissed the telecom service providers’ petitions seeking a re-computation of their AGR dues. The court’s decision will require Vi to pay Rs 70,000 crore to the government as AGR.
“We expect the bank funding to conclude in the next seven to eight weeks,” Moondra said. “We have initiated fresh dialogue with government on likely remedies… The outcome of the curated petition is disappointing, it does not have any impact on the long-term business plan of the company and its existing liabilities.”
The apex court’s ruling has come as a significant setback for the telecom sector, particularly Vi, which owes Rs 2,03,430 crore to the government. This amount includes Rs 1,33,110 crore in deferred spectrum payments and Rs 70,320 crore in AGR liabilities as of March 31, 2024.
Vi’s CEO, Akshaya Moondra, also mentioned that he expects another round of tariff hikes in the telecom sector to occur in the second half of 2025, which is anticipated to boost the telco’s cash flow generation.
In July, all the private telcos -- Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea -- have hiked its tariff between 12% and 25%. On 22 September 2024, Vodafone Idea, India’s third-largest telecom service provider, announced a deal worth $3.6 billion (about Rs 300 billion) with Nokia, Ericsson, and Samsung for network equipment supply over three years. Vodafone Idea emphasized that its top priority is to expand 4G coverage to 1.2 billion Indians.
“We have got 5G spectrum in 17 circles, we will be launching 5G in all the circles,” he said.