Vodafone Idea Headed for Liquidation Unless the Indian Government Provides Relief: Vodafone CEO

Vodafone CEO Nick Read urges the Indian government intervention right away before the telco goes for liquidation. “If you’re not a going concern, you’re moving into a liquidation scenario—can’t get any clearer than that,” he told the press, as reported by IANS.

A recent report surfaced online stated that Vodafone is looking to exit the joint venture and leave the country. Already, the merged entity rubbished this rumour citing it as baseless. Now, Vodafone CEO himself said “The government has stated its desire not to end up with a monopoly,” when asked about the UK-based telco’s participation in the Indian telecom industry.

That said, Vodafone will not be infusing any more equity to the merged entity and asks the government to bail out from this tricky situation. “Financially, there’s been a heavy burden through unsupportive regulation, excessive taxes and on top of that we got the negative Supreme Court decision,” he stated.

Vodafone Idea Required to Pay Around Rs 39,000 Crore Dues

It has been a tough few months for Vodafone Idea and other Indian telecom operators. The Supreme Court recently put an end to a 14-year old legal issue by saying telecom operators in the country will have to pay Rs 92,000 crore as adjusted gross revenue (AGR). Already, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea are reeling under losses and the tariff prices are also not going up as everyone expected.

As part of this Supreme Court decision, Vodafone Idea will have to pay over Rs 11,000 crore as spectrum usage charge dues and Rs 28,000 crore as licence fee dues.

We’re worried about the future of Vodafone Idea as the government remains unmoved despite several requests from the telecom operators. Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea already confirmed that they would legally charge the decision of the Supreme Court, but at the end, they will have to pay the respective dues.