Vodafone Idea (Vi) has reportedly paid its statutory dues amounting to Rs 8.18 billion to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). With this the operator has cleared all its pending statutory dues. The aforesaid amount is paid against licence fee (LF) and spectrum usage charge (SUC) for the second quarter of 2021-22.
Earlier in December 2021, the operator had also made on-time payments amounting to Rs 15 billion to its non-convertible debenture (NCD) holders. All the recent payments made by the operator are believed to have come in the backdrop of the government’s relief package coupled with deferral of spectrum payments and adjusted gross revenue (AGR) payments to the government by four years. Allowing spectrum and AGR payments to be deferred by four years is estimated to help the company save cash flows worth around Rs 960 billion.
In addition, with the recent round of tariff hikes, Vi’s cash flow is expected to ease further. Vi had raised its prepaid rates by 20-25 per cent in December 2021, aimed at bolstering its cash flows and revenue. Meanwhile, another measure of government relief was a sharp reduction in the requirement for bank guarantees (BGs). Vi had about Rs 230-250 billion of BGs with the government.
