Vodafone Idea (Vi), a struggling Indian telecom operator, has so far failed to raise funds from the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC). The telco has been trying to raise funds for the same for deployment of Open-RAN and related technologies, sad an ET report. Vi had given its assurance of closing the funding four months ago, yet nothing has happened. The report mentions that the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has taken note of Vi's failure to raise funds with the US DFC for funding Open-RAN & related tech.
The DFC is a finance institution of the United States (US) government that invests in several sectors to make profits. The body also partners with private companies to finance solutions that are critical challenges in the developing world.
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Vi has been trying to get access to some funds from the US DFC for deploying Open-RAN, a crucial telecom technology for the future. But the telco has not been able to do so yet. Another report from the publication last year said that Vi is conducting O-RAN trials with US-based Mavenir. The trials were for a 5G network based on Open-RAN for a few circles.
The telco's inability to launch 5G has been eating up its subscriber market share. Further, the moratorium period will end in FY26. From that point onwards, Vi would have to pay the government Rs 30,000 crore annually for deferred adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues and spectrum usage charges (SUC).
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On top of this, Vi would also have a debt of 5G spectrum, current year's license fees dues, and payments to vendors and financial institutions. The telco needs to raise funds in the short term and increase market share as fast as possible to improve revenue margins.
