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Vodafone Idea is expected to complete its debt raising exercise in the next 7-8 weeks, Vi management informed investors in a call on Monday. Last week, the Supreme Court dismissed the curative petition filed by Vodafone Idea along with Bharti Airtel concerning their dues related to Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR).
While the increased liability burden spelled panic for Vi’s investors, the telco reassured that the top court’s decision will have no impact on its fundraise and capex plans.
Speaking on the dismissal of the curative petition, CEO Akshaya Moondra said, “While a positive outcome would have eased the liability burden, our long-term plan remains unaffected. The plan shared with banks did not include the outcome of the curative petition.”
Moondra said that Vi is in advanced stage discussions with banks for debt raising (₹25,000 crore fund based and ₹10,000 crore non-fund based). Recently, a third party auditor completed a techno-economic evaluation on the firm, and the report has been submitted to all banks in the consortium led by the State Bank of India.
Vi expects the debt raising exercise to be completed in 7-8 weeks.
Three-player market
The management further maintained that the government remains committed to maintaining a three player market. While the dismissal of the AGR petition is the final outcome of the court, Vi is engaging with senior government officials to consider remedies. According to Vi management, the government is acknowledging the merits of the curative petition as well as the calculation error in the estimation of Vi’s and Bharti’s AGR liabilities. Vi is set to submit specific demands to rectify the AGR issue with the government soon.
On Sunday, Vi announced signing deals worth ₹30,000 crore with Nokia, Ericsson and Samsung. Of the three, Samsung is newly engaging with Vodafone Idea on the network rollout front. The deal covers all the radio equipment necessary during Vi’s three year rollout plan. Additional network deals will be conducted on a steady incremental basis for optic fiber and core network equipment, These deals are a part of Vi’s ₹50,000-55,000 crore capex plan that involves improving 4G coverage overall as well as conducting 5G rollout in all 17 priority circles.
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