After facing a hammering in the stock markets, following an adverse judgment by the Supreme Court on the AGR issue, embattled telco Vodafone Idea (VIL) sought to assuage investor sentiments.
Vodafone Idea promised a “smart turnaround” by lining up £5.5 bn new investment. Out of this, VIL will spend £3 bn over the next three years to buy network equipment from Nokia, Ericsson, and Samsung.
The company has to cough up nearly £7 bn towards its AGR dues. It has “kickstarted the investment cycle” as part of a VIL 2.0 plan. It will raise funds through debt after it mopped up £2.4 bn through a follow-on public offer and infusion by promoters.
“We are committed to invest in emerging network technologies to provide a best-in-class experience to our customers. We have kickstarted the investment cycle. We are on our journey of VIL 2.0 and from hereon, VIL will stage a smart turnaround to effectively participate in the industry growth opportunities,” CEO Akshaya Moondra said, calling it the company’s largest capex investment.
“The deal marks the first step towards rollout of the company’s transformative three-year capex plan of £5.5 bn. The capex programme is directed towards expanding the 4G population coverage from 1 billion to 1.2 billion, launching 5G in key markets and capacity expansion in line with data growth. The company has continued with its existing long-term partners Nokia and Ericsson and also on-boarded Samsung as a new partner,” the company said, with Moondra adding, “We look forward to work closely with all our partners as we move into the 5G era.”
