Bharti Airtel board to meet on December 4 to consider fundraising plan

Bharti Airtel on Friday said its board would meet on December 4 to consider its fundraising plan. 

The proposal follows the Supreme Court judgment on adjusted gross revenue (AGR).

“A meeting of the board of directors is scheduled to be held on December 4 to, inter-alia, consider and evaluate any and all proposals for raising of funds, either by issuance of equity shares, and or bonds, including foreign currency convertible bonds,” the company said in a filing.

The board will also evaluate raising of funds through debentures, non-convertible debt instruments along with warrants, convertible debentures , securities or any other equity based instruments including through qualified institutions placement or rights issue, or through any other permissible mode, the filing said.

The Supreme Court on October 24 upheld the government's way of calculating telecom revenue, on which licence fee and spectrum usage charges are computed.

According to the initial calculations, access players such as Airtel, Vodafone Idea, and other operational telecom operators may have to pay the government a whopping Rs 1.33 trillion within three months. 

The firm has reported a pre-tax loss of Rs 31,334 crore for the September quarter, after it provided for outstanding payments to the Centre on account of the AGR verdict. 

The pre-tax loss in the year-ago quarter stood at Rs 1,998 crore.