Vodafone Idea will conduct its board meeting on September 4 to consider raising fresh funds to address AGR dues and Capex requirements.
Vodafone Idea informed stock exchanges in India about the purpose of the board meet, without divulging further details on the fund raising plans.
India’s Supreme Court allowed the third largest mobile operator to pay its AGR dues over a 10-year period.
Vodafone Idea has paid Rs 7,854 crore to DoT towards the AGR dues, against its total AGR dues of around Rs 58,000 crore.
In addition, Vodafone Idea will sell its 11.15 percent equity stake in Indus Towers for a cash consideration of about Rs 4,000 crore as Bharti Infratel’s board has decided on the merger with Indus Towers.
However, Vodafone Group will stay invested in the merged entity with a likely shareholding of 28.2 percent. Providence will hold around 3.2 percent while Bharti Infratel shareholders will hold 68.6 percent in the merged telecom tower business.
“The 10-year time frame puts a question mark on the survival of Vodafone. Indian telecom industry moving to a virtual duopoly is not a desirable development, VK Vijaya Kumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said.
Vodafone Idea, a joint venture between Britain’s Vodafone Group and Idea Cellular, said earlier that consolidated revenue from operations fell to 106.59 billion rupees during the quarter ended June 30, compared with 112.70 billion rupees a year earlier.
The country’s third largest telecom operator by subscribers reported its eighth consecutive quarterly loss of 254.6 billion rupees, compared with a loss of 48.74 billion rupees a year earlier.
