Vodafone Idea Limited (VIL), a prominent Indian telecom operator, has cleared Rs 700 crore statutory payment for the June 2024 quarter. This includes the entire license fees and spectrum usage charges (SUC). This is the first time in two years that Vodafone Idea has cleared statutory dues of a single quarter entirely in a timely manner. This is likely due to the successful fundraising through FPO (Follow-up Public Offer) which brought Rs 18,000 crore into the company's bank. The telco's cash and bank balance increased significantly to Rs 18,150 crore at the end of June 30, 2024.
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According to an ET report, a Vodafone Idea spokesperson confirmed that all of the outstanding dues with DoT are cleared and the payment for spectrum acquired has also been made. This would help the company in saving money on interest it would have eventually paid if the payment was no made in a timeline manner.
After raising about Rs 24,000 crore through equity, Vodafone Idea is further looking to raise Rs 25,000 crore in debt. The telco plans to spend Rs 50,000-55,000 crore in capex in the next three years. Because of the fundraising, the telco will be able to ramp up investments in its mobile networks and will also come in a better position to stop subscriber loss.
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Vodafone Idea is also negotiating with the lenders and vendors and DoT (Department of Telecommunications) for government support. Vi's network services are bound to improve, but how will that reflect on its subscriber base will be the key question. Vodafone Idea needs to improve its mobile networks as soon as possible to compete with Jio and Airtel. Along with this, the telco has to figure out its 5G rollout plans as currently, it is hard to moentise it.
