Voda idea news: Vodafone Idea started talking with the government again about two weeks after the petition to provide relief on the payment of arrears on the adjustable gross revenue (AGR) outstanding payment, but the company also suffered a setback from here. According to the CNBC-TV18 report, the consultation on relief is not possible after the Supreme Court’s decision in the AGR dues case. Akshay Mundra, CEO of Telecom company Voda Idea, who is struggling with financial problems, revealed the government’s conversation to start again in analysts call. He said that talks with the government started on relief, whether it will be found or not, we cannot say anything on it, but even after the Supreme Court’s decision, talks are being held to find solutions with the government. He said that in this case someone is stopping the government from giving relief, it does not seem.
VI’s ongoing conversation with banks
The CEO of Voda Idea also said that the telecom company is interacting with banks in an attempt to raise loans for long -term expansion plans, but banks want more clarity about the company’s AGR arrears. He said that still the conversation is moving forward. Vodafone Idea has been trying to raise ₹ 25,000 crore bank funding for a long time. The company says that recently its credit rating improvement and converting ₹ 36,950 crore dues into equity from the government has helped in talks with banks.
What is the plan of Vodafone Idea and what are the problems coming?
In the first half of FY 2026, the company is planning a capital expenditure of ₹ 5,000–6,000 crore to strengthen the network and infrastructure. However, the CEO says that the plan for the next phase expenditure will depend on bank funding. Now, talking about the problems in front of the company, on May 19, the Supreme Court dismissed the petitions seeking to waive interest, fine and fine on AGR dues of Vodafone Idea, Bharti Airtel and Tata Teleservices.
The government owes an AGR of ₹ 83,400 crore on Vodafone Idea and the company had demanded relief of more than ₹ 45,000 crore from it. However, it is a matter of relief for the company that the Supreme Court dismissed the petition, but also said that if the government wants, it can intervene. The country’s third largest telecom company Vodafone Idea has a regulatory liabilities of about ₹ 2 lakh crore. In a recently filed petition in the Supreme Court, the company said that if the bank funding is not found, the company will not be able to keep operations after FY25.
IIFL Capital said in the June 2 report that AGR payment of ₹ 16,500 crore is coming in March 2026, so AGR relief and fund raising has become very important for Vodafone Idea. The company had announced a plan to expand 4G network and start 5G services in May 2023 in 3 years by spending ₹ 50,000–55,000 crore. The CEO of the company says that a large part of the FY26 capital expenditure will be spent in the current June quarter.
He said that a capital experience of about ₹ 6,000 crore will be done in this quarter. With this investment, 4G coverage will reach 84%. Bank funding will be necessary to achieve 90% coverage. By the end of March 2025, Vodafone Idea had increased 4G coverage from 77% to 83%. In FY25, the company spent a capital of ₹ 9,570 crore, which was much higher than FY24’s ₹ 1,850 crore. The January -March 2025 quarter took ₹ 4,230 crore capex, which is the highest after the merger of Vodafone and Idea in 2018. Along with network expansion, the company is also focusing on the control of expenses. The CEO said that despite starting new sites, the cost has not increased much.
In the exchange filing on May 30, Vodafone Idea sent information that the board has approved the amount of up to ₹ 20,000 crore to raise FPO, private placement or other ways. A Capital Resinging Committee will evaluate the appropriate option. The CEO of the company also says that the increase in tariffs is necessary to provide proper returns on investment and support the investment of time in the telecom sector. They believe that there should be a model in which more data users pay more.
