Vodafone Idea (Vi), the third-largest telecom operator in the country, has rolled out 5G in a few circles. The telco still hasn't met the minimum 5G rollout obligations set by the govt. This means that the govt can potentially penalise Vi or take back the 5G spectrum it allocated to the telco in 2022. Vodafone Idea has been under a lot of stress due to not making any profits since the inception of the merged entity. On top of that, the telco's debt mountain has gone up severely and it has not been able to raise funds through investors.
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Due to all this, the telco has not invested money in rolling out 5G. While Vi will deploy 5G someday, for now, it has exceeded the time provided by the govt to meet the minimum 5G rollout obligations. According to a MoneyControl report, Vi has rolled out 5G in four circles - Delhi, Pune, Punjab and Chennai.
The telco has reassured the telecom department that it will roll out 5G in four to six more circles in the coming months. The govt had asked the telcos acquiring the 5G spectrum to deploy 5G in both metro and non-metro circles within the first year. Even if the telco had deployed 5G in one area of an entire circle, it would have worked.
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But Vi hasn't done that. The telco recently announced its decision to raise about Rs 45000 crore through equity and debt. On April 2, 2024, Vi has scheduled a vote for the shareholders to give their nod for the fundraising decision. While the nod is most likely to come, the interesting thing this time is that the telco would also be getting funds from the promoters, which in this case is the Aditya Birla Group (ABG) only as Vodafone UK seems to have given up on its Indian business.
