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Highlights
- If you have been following the telecom space, you know that there was a time when Kumar Mangalam Birla wanted to sell his entire stake in Vodafone Idea (Vi).
- In 2021, there were reports citing Birla looking for an exit for his 27% stake in the ailing Vodafone Idea.
- The Indian billionaire was ready to sell his entire stake to any entity - public, government, or domestic financial company.
Andrew Bonwick
Vice President of Product Development at Relm Insurance
Madhav Sheth
CEO of Ai+ Smartphone
Stephen Rose
CEO Render Networks
If you have been following the telecom space, you know that there was a time when Kumar Mangalam Birla (KMB) wanted to sell his entire stake in Vodafone Idea (Vi). This wasn’t very long ago. In 2021, there were reports citing Birla looking for an exit for his 27% stake in the ailing Vodafone Idea. The Indian billionaire was ready to sell his entire stake to any entity – public, government, or domestic financial company.
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In a letter to the cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba on June 7, 2021, Birla had written, “I am more than willing to hand over my stake in the company to any entity — public sector/government/ domestic financial entity that the government may consider worthy of keeping the company going.”
Now, in an interesting turn of events, Birla has now returned as the non-executive chairman of Vodafone Idea. This was announced on Tuesday, and the development marks an important turn of events for the company. Birla, who seemed to be very less interested in where the telco’s trajectory was going, seems to now be curious again. This signals a potentially positive future for the company.
The government support has played a key role in this. Indian government has ensured that the market doesn’t turn into a duopoly between Jio and Airtel. Vodafone Idea has been granted major relief in the AGR (adjusted gross revenue) dues front and the telco is now also adding new customers and expanding the 4G and 5G coverage.
