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Vodafone Idea, the entity formed following the merger of Vodafone India and Idea Cellular, plans to infuse equity of ₹25,000 crore even as it posted a consolidated net loss of ₹4,973.8 crore for the quarter ended September 30.
Promoters Vodafone Group and Aditya Birla Group will invest up to ₹11,000 crore and ₹7,250 crore, respectively, in the merged entity as part of the capital raise, the telecom operator said in a statement.
The committee will evaluate various options such as rights issue, Qualified Institutional Placement or a preferential issue. A capital raise, if approved, is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of this fiscal.
“The board remains optimistic about the long-term outlook for the market and the future for the business, and recognises that further equity funding is required in order to ensure that the company has sufficient balance sheet flexibility to successfully execute its strategy,” it added.
Further, the operator also said that several firms have evinced interest in acquiring its fibre network spanning 1.56 lakh route km, and the firm has decided to explore its potential sale. It also added that the merger of Bharti Infratel with Indus Towers, where it has an option to monetise its 11.15 per cent stake, is “progressing well”.
Net down
“Going forward, we remain focussed on accelerating integration momentum for higher synergy realisation; expanding coverage and capacity of our 4G network; providing the best of customer experience to our retail and enterprise customers; and in creating an agile and future-fit organisation,” Balesh Sharma, CEO at Vodafone Idea, said.
Announcing the maiden results of the combined entity, Vodafone Idea said its consolidated second quarter net loss widened to ₹4,973.8 crore, from ₹1,106.6 crore recorded during the year-ago period. The firm had posted a net profit of ₹256.5 crore in the first quarter of this fiscal.
Total income rose to ₹7,878.6 crore (₹7510.9 crore). The merger was completed on August 31 and the numbers are not strictly comparable to the earlier periods.
The company’s overall subscriber base is 42.2 crore while Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) led to a 4.7 per cent quarter-on-quarter decline to ₹88 for the quarter due to customer migration to lower offerings, it said.
This coupled with a loss of 1.3 crore customers during the period, resulted in a 7.1 per cent decline in total revenue, compared with the first quarter, it added.
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