Vodafone Idea has secured enough near-term funding to maintain its network investment, even as negotiations with an SBI-led consortium for a larger loan continue to take longer than expected, the telecom operator said during its earnings call. The company also said services would not be disrupted in eight circles where its spectrum is due for renewal in December.
Chief Executive Officer Abhijit Kishore attributed the delay in the proposed loan to the involvement of multiple lenders. “The involvement of multiple lenders has resulted in the overall process taking a little longer than what we had earlier anticipated, but we remain confident in our engagement with the consortium,” he said.
Vodafone Idea is seeking Rs 25,000 crore in funding and Rs 10,000 crore in non-funded facilities. It is in discussions with three lender groups: a public sector bank consortium led by State Bank of India, Indian private banks and foreign banks for external commercial borrowings. Kishore said the company did not need to draw the entire amount at once and would access the funds as required. Talks with public sector banks were “very close to closure”, he said.
The company said it had secured more than Rs 10,500 crore in total funding by the first half of FY27, including warrants and fund- and non-fund-based facilities. More than Rs 4,000 crore of incremental bank funding was arranged in the second quarter. Funding from private and foreign banks is currently sufficient to maintain the company’s capital expenditure momentum, Kishore said.
Vodafone Idea has announced a capital expenditure plan of Rs 50,000 crore to Rs 55,000 crore by 2027 to upgrade its network and remain competitive. The company said capital expenditure more than doubled sequentially to Rs 3,946 crore in the September quarter, while orders worth more than Rs 13,200 crore had been placed against its three-year capex guidance of Rs 45,000 crore. It added nearly 9,000 broadband towers during the quarter, taking its total to close to 2.28 lakh.
The operator said it remained on track to complete its 4G network rollout by FY28. Its 5G services are available in 400 cities and towns. The company’s subscriber base increased to 19.44 crore at the end of the second quarter of FY27, from 19.31 crore in the previous quarter, although it was lower than the 19.67 crore recorded a year earlier. Its 4G and 5G subscriber base rose to 131 million from 127.8 million a year earlier.
On spectrum renewals, Kishore said Vodafone Idea had conveyed its interest in continuing with the spectrum in the eight affected circles. He said the prevailing norm was for operators to continue using spectrum until auctions were held, although auction dates have not yet been announced. The company has paid more than Rs 4,300 crore in spectrum dues that were payable in October, taking its payments against FY27 spectrum obligations to more than Rs 6,000 crore out of approximately Rs 7,000 crore due.
Vodafone Idea reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 5,975 crore for the July-September quarter, compared with Rs 5,524 crore in the year-ago period. The loss included an exceptional charge of Rs 462 crore related to the remeasurement of shares earmarked by Vodafone Group entities. Revenue from operations rose 6.2 per cent to Rs 11,884 crore. Average revenue per user increased to Rs 198 from Rs 180 a year earlier.
Chief Financial Officer Tejas Mehta said the company’s bank debt stood at Rs 943 crore as of September 30, while free cash and bank balances were Rs 5,470 crore. He said the company’s legacy bank debt had been fully repaid and that current drawdowns represented incremental funding secured by Vodafone Idea.
