Vodafone Idea Fundraising and Subsidising 5G Devices, What Nokia Says Should Happen

Reported by Tanay Singh Thakur March 22nd, 2024 at 06:48 am

Vi owes Nokia about Rs 3,000 crore. Sandeep Saxena, head of technology and solutions at Nokia India, said that they are hopeful for Vi's fundraising to come through.

Highlights

Vodafone Idea (Vi), the third-largest telecom operator in the country, has been trying to raise funds for quite some time.
Much recently, the board approved yet another fundraising of Rs 45,000 crore.
Vi owes Nokia about Rs 3,000 crore.

vodafone idea fundraising and subsidising 5g devices

Vodafone Idea (Vi), the third-largest telecom operator in the country, has been trying to raise funds for quite some time. Much recently, the board approved yet another fundraising of Rs 45,000 crore. While the telco is hopeful that this time it will be able to raise funds, industry players are also hoping for the same to happen. This is because Vi's future will affect many companies, including Nokia, a major Finnish telecom gear vendor, that has supplied Vi with network gears in credit.

Vi owes Nokia about Rs 3,000 crore. Talking to ET, Sandeep Saxena, head of technology and solutions at Nokia India, said that they are hopeful for Vi's fundraising to come through. Not just from the perspective of Nokia, Saxena said that it is also good for the industry to have more than two major players offering services.

Apart from Vodafone Idea, Nokia also has business ties with Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel, the other two leading telecom operators in the country. Some of the enterprises have also started working with Nokia in India, and thus, according to Saxena, despite not receiving money from Vi on time, the company's business in the country is stable.

Nokia on Subsidising 5G Devices in India

Much recently, Nokia released its Mobile Broadband Index (MBiT) report for 2024. In that report, the company said that approximately 17% of active 4G devices, totalling 134 million out of 796 million, are 5G capable in India.

However, to grow the number of 5G capable devices in the market fast, subsidising 5G phones is necessary. Amit Marwah, head of marketing and corporate affairs (CMO) at Nokia, said, that mobile devices need to be subsidised in India to push more consumers to adopt a 5G phone.

Reliance Jio is already working on a super affordable 5G phone and it could feature a Qualcomm Snapdragon chip. The company is expected to come out with this new phone later in the year.