Voda-Idea weighs fundraising

Vodafone Idea’s board has decided to meet on Friday to consider fund raising options after the Supreme Court directed all telecom operators to pay 10% of the total adjusted gross revenue (AGR)-related dues in 2020-21 and the rest in equal instalments over 10 years, starting FY22.

Mint had reported that the debt-ridden telecom firm was expected to resume fundraising talks that had stalled because of the AGR case. It may approach e-commerce major Amazon.com Inc. and Verizon Communications of the US.

According to industry experts, the company needs fresh equity, higher tariff and concession in various government levies to continue operations besides paying the annual instalment of AGR dues, which include spectrum usage charges, licence fee, interest, penalty and interest on penalty. Vodafone Idea owes the government ₹58,254 crore.