ARTICLE AD BOX
New Delhi: In one of the most dramatic corporate turnarounds witnessed in corporate India, beleaguered telecom operator Vodafone Idea (Vi) is all set to receive ₹4,730 crore from parent Aditya Birla Group as it looks to revive the highly indebted telecom operator that is struggling to compete against Reliance Jio and Airtel.
Since Vodafone India and Idea Cellular merged in 2018, the company has faced a multitude of challenges, primarily due to the entry of Reliance Jio’s rock bottom rates in 2016 and the price war that followed.
It has defaulted on its Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) dues, the licensing fee for using spectrum, which the government had eventually converted to 49% equity. Besides that, the price war had forced it to spend massively on network expansions and spectrum auctions, so much so that Britain’s Vodafone Plc refused to invest further in the company.
Over the years, the company has worked to address its challenges, managing to stop subscriber base losses with revenues rising 2.9% year on year at ₹11,332 crore and EBITDA increasing 4.9% to ₹4,890 crore for Q4 FY26. Its full year revenue has risen 3% to ₹44,873 crore year on year.
By converting its AGR dues to equity, the government has also stepped in to rescue Vodafone Idea, even as it slashed its AGR dues to ₹64,046 crore from ₹87,695 crore, with most payments deferred to FY36-41.
“The benefits of sustained investments in network infrastructure and rollout are now becoming increasingly visible, reflecting a stronger operational performance and improved customer service.”Aditya Birla Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla said in an EGM (Extraordinary General Meeting) held on Thursday, June 11.
“The work of rebuilding has begun, your company now looks ahead with confidence.”
Along with this, Vodafone Idea is also trying to secure a debt package worth ₹35,000 crore through an SBI-led consortium. Despite all of this, the company still has to pay about ₹1.27 lakh crore in deferred spectrum liabilities
For Kumar Mangalam Birla, the company’s non-executive chairman, there is a lot of work to do, as the company is just out of survival, and now has to work towards its revival as the company competes against an established Airtel-Jio duopoly.
English (US) ·