According to a regulatory filing, Vodafone Idea Limited (Vi) informed that its board will meet on October 21, 2022 to consider raising funds by issuing preferential convertible debentures to a vendor. As per sources, the vendor is likely to be Indus Towers, since Vi owes around Rs 68 billion to the tower company.
Vi had earlier announced a Rs 250 billion fundraising plan via a mix of debt and equity in September 2020. Of this, it has received a shade over Rs 49 billion from promoters, a large chunk of which was used to clear dues of Indus Towers. However, the balance funds are yet to be raised.
The operator, with around 253 million subscribers, needs fund to invest in 4G capital expenditure (capex) and to tie up vendor contracts for 5G rollouts. Moreover, the telco owes around Rs 24 billion to American Tower Company (ATC).
