Vodafone Idea (Vi) has requested the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) more time to clear its statutory dues. The telco has not paid the statutory dues to the DoT, and owing to that, the telecom department sent Vi a letter on July 21. Vi, in return, said that because of delayed fundraising, it is facing liquidity issues. Vi had said that if the government goes ahead with the dues to equity conversion, it will be easier for the telco to raise funds. However, that doesn't seem to be the case anymore. It has been several months since the government took an equity stake in the company, and yet, the telco has not been able to raise any funds.
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According to an ET report, Vi has requested additional time. The telco wants time until the December end to pay the remaining 50% of license fees and 90% of spectrum usage charges for the March FY23 quarter and June FY24 quarter.
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Vodafone Idea told DoT it is working in a focused manner to raise funds and that its promoters are also committed to supporting the company. However, the promoters aren't very happy to infuse any more capital into the company. The reason why Vi has mostly not been able to raise funds so far is that the promoters don't want to invest any further capital into the company.
Vodafone Group UK, one of the promoters of the telco, has even decided not to carry forward any losses related to Vi anymore. The group has carried forward the value of Vi as nil in its books. That's a big statement for any investor that was even considering lending the telco money or investing in it. The telco will announce quarterly results on August 14, 2023. It will be interesting to see if it has made any progress.
