Vodaphone Idea

The Modi government where the matter now rests will have to now take a tough call on a possible merger with BSNL which is already in financial problems or do a fire sale a la Satyam as Birla has already offered his equity but that is a long drawn out process. The issue which is not clear is the Vodafone stance on Birla offering his equity as the other big stakeholder is Vodafone.

At around 12.20 p.m., shares of Vodafone Idea on the BSE were trading at Rs 8.58, lower by 7.24 per cent from its previous close. A bench headed by Justice L. Nageswara Rao said all applications dismissed. On Monday, the apex court already said it would pass its order on applications filed by Vodafone Idea, Bharti Airtel and Tata Tele Services Ltd, alleging arithmetical errors in calculation of AGR dues payable by them.

With this addition, Jio's subscriber base has increased to over 42.76 crore users, showed data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). Bharti Airtel added over 5.17 lakh users during the month under review, taking its subscriber base to over 35.29 crore. Vodafone Idea, on the other hand, eroded its subscriber base by over 18.10 lakh users to more than 28.19 crore.

"Industry players have pointed out the tremendous stress in the telecom sector. COAI, the industry body representing all three private operators, has, over the last two years, pointed out the need for support to the sector and unanimously asked for floor pricing to be set for restoring health of the sector. We would not comment on speculative commentary and ill-informed conclusions," Vodafone spokesperson said.

In its notes to the financial results for FY21 and the fourth quarter of last fiscal, the company said that the group has incurred losses of Rs 44,233.1 crore for the year ended March 31 and the net worth is negative. As at March 31, 2021, the total debt, including interest accrued but not due and AGR liability of the group stands at Rs 1.86 lakh crore.

Vodafone Idea Ltd MD & CEO Ravinder Takkar said: "FY21 has been a transformational year for Vodafone Idea with several important milestones achieved including launch of our unified brand 'Vi'. We enter FY22 with renewed focus on executing our strategy to keep our customers ahead, and our cost optimisation plan remains on track to deliver the targeted savings."

Days after the Department of Telecommunications issued a show-cause notice to the company over non-payment of license fee in seven circles, Vodafone Idea said, in a regulatory filing, that it will send a "suitable clarification" to DoT on the same.

"With this industry-first initiative, VIL has become the only telecom company in India to offer a secure end-to-end IoT solution offering that comprises connectivity, hardware, network, application, analytics, security and support," the company said in a regulatory filing.