Vodafone Idea narrowed its net loss to Rs 6,608 crore in the June quarter

Time of India

7 hours ago

Vodafone Idea
narrowed its
net loss
to Rs 6,608 crore in the June quarter from Rs 7,166 crore in the quarter before, helped by higher revenue from 4G and 5G users, lower finance costs amidst a sharp drop in subscriber losses.
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Vi also named chief operating officer
Abhijit Kishore
as the next chief executive officer for a three-year term, following the end of current CEO Akshaya Moondra's tenure on August 18.
The joint venture of UK's Vodafone Group and India's Aditya Birla Group, which started
5G services
in 22 cities across 13 telecom circles, was able to cut subscriber losses by about 90% to 500,000 in Q1FY26 from 5 million each in Q2 and Q3 of FY25, the telco said.
'This has been a decisive turnaround quarter,' Moondra said in an earnings statement on Thursday. 'Investments made over the past three quarters to expand our 4G coverage have started yielding results, as reflected in the 90% lower subscriber loss compared to Q2 and Q3 of last financial year, being the lowest subscriber decline since merger.'
He added that data consumption during the quarter touched a record high.
Vi commenced 5G services in 22 cities in 13 circles in the fiscal first quarter including Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Mysuru, and Ahmedabad.
It plans to extend coverage to all 17 circles where it holds 5G airwaves by this month-end. However, the early and widespread 5G rollout by larger rivals Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel has made it challenging for Vi to catch up in terms of market penetration, user adoption, and overall perception, said analysts.
Vi's blended average revenue per user or Arpu—a key performance metric—grew sequentially to Rs 165 in the June quarter from Rs 164. The 4G/5G subscriber base expanded to 127.4 million from 126.7 million in the March quarter. Overall subscriber base as of June-end increased to 197.7 million from 198.2 million in the previous quarter.
'Vi's 1mn post-paid net adds in 1Q were the highest in recent quarters. Data traffic grew 8.2% qoq to 74.2PB/day, highest in recent quarters,'
IIFL Securities
said in a note.
Quarterly revenue grew 0.8% on-quarter to Rs 11,023 crore.
This April, Vi sought relief from the Centre on adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues, but after its request was dismissed by the Supreme Court in May, the company is continuing talks with the telecom department to find a workable payment solution before the first instalment is due, it said.
'The Group' s ability to continue as a going concern is dependent on support from DoT on the AGR matter, successfully arranging funding and generation of cash flow from its operations that it needs to settle its liabilities as they fall due,' auditor SR Batliboy said in its report.
The company's spectrum payments, except for the 2021, 2022, and 2024 auctions, and AGR dues up to FY19 are under a four-year moratorium till FY25. The final payable amounts will be confirmed by December 31, 2025, and AGR dues will then have to be paid in six yearly instalments starting March 31, 2026.
As of June 30, 2025, Vi's outstanding debt from banks is Rs 1,945 crore and deferred obligation towards spectrum—payable till FY44—and towards AGR—payable FY31—aggregates to Rs 1.99 lakh crore.
Of these, the AGR instalment due FY26 is Rs 16,428 crore and deferred spectrum payment payable by June 2026 is Rs 2641 crore, regulatory filings showed.
'The Group's ability to settle the above liabilities is dependent on further support from the DoT on the AGR matter, fund raise through equity and debt and generation of cash flow from operations. Based on current efforts, the Group believes that it would be able to get DoT support, successfully arrange funds and generate cash flow from operations,' Vi said.
The telco has been incurring losses since the merger of Vodafone India and Idea Cellular in August 2018, and its weak cash position due to piling debt meant it wasn't able to invest adequately in expanding 4G network and start 5G rollouts, leading to rapid user losses, according to analysts.
Having already raised equity funding of about Rs 24,000 crore, the cash-strapped telco is also in talks with a consortium of banks to raise up to Rs 25,000 crore and additional non-fund-based facilities of up to Rs 10,000 crore, the company had said previously.
Moondra said the company is continuing to spend on capex and is in negotiations with lenders to raise debt financing for its broader capex plans of Rs 50,000-55,000 crore.