Vodafone Idea Rules Out Amazon’s Investment Talks

Telecom giant, Vodafone Idea (Vi) has denied reports of ecommerce company Amazon investing in its telecom business. 

Vodafone Idea wrote a letter to the Bombay Stock Exchange stating that it is exploring various opportunities and options to raise funds within the board authorisations. 

Vodafone Idea said that its board of directors had approved the raising of funds up to an aggregate amount of INR 25K Cr in September 2020. It also informed the stock exchange about the fundraising in the same year.

During this development, Vodafone Idea’s shares were trading at INR 9.33, dipping by 0.29% as on June 1. 

“As and when such proposals are considered by the board of directors of the company that warrant disclosures, the company complies with the disclosure obligations under the SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015,” the letter said.

Earlier, ecommerce giant Amazon was reported to be assessing its investment options for Vodafone Idea in Q1 2021. Currently, it is the only ecommerce colossal that has not backed any telecom operators in India. 

Meanwhile, other telecom giants including Airtel and Reliance Jio have been backed by various tech companies in the past. Earlier this year, Airtel raised $1 Bn from Google while Reliance Jio was backed by Google and Facebook in the previous year.  

Earlier in May, Vodafone Idea’s MD Ravinder Takkar informed that the telecom operator was ‘closer to raise’ INR 20K Cr from lenders and external investors.

Reportedly, Vodafone Idea is in discussions with Apollo Global and other investors to raise INR 10K Cr in equity whilst the remaining INR 10K Cr will be raised as debt from lenders. 

Vi recently bagged INR 4,500 Cr from UK’s Vodafone and ABG. Following this, Vodafone’s  stake marginally increased to 47.61% in Vodafone Idea while ABG stake was slightly reduced to 27.4%.

A Closer Look At Vodafone Idea’s Quarterly Performance

Vodafone Idea has vastly improved its performance in FY22. The telecom operator reduced its losses by 36% to INR 28,245 Cr in FY22 against INR 44,253 Cr incurred losses in FY21. 

The telecom giant increased its revenue by 5.4% QoQ to INR 10,240 Cr in FY22. Its net debt widened to INR 1.96 Lakh Cr in FY22. Of this, it owes INR 1.8 Lakh Cr to the Indian government as AGR and spectrum dues. 

Additionally, Vodafone Idea’s 4G subscribers soared to 118.1 Mn, grew by 1.1 Mn during the same period. 

Besides, Vodafone Idea’s business has also been boosted after recent traffic hikes that helped the telco company surge its average revenue per user (ARPU) to INR 124 from the earlier INR 115. 

The government’s telecom relief packages also helped Vi gain momentum in the telco industry as the telecom operator deferred paying AGR and spectrum dues for four years.