Vodafone Idea soars on buzz Amazon, Verizon may invest over $4 bln

Vodafone Idea surged 26.74% at Rs 12.56 after the media reported that Amazon and Verizon Communications could invest over $4 billion for a significant stake in the telecom operator.

According to the reports, the stake-sale talks were paused because the outcome of a Supreme Court case on staggered payments of government dues was uncertain and could have threatened the survival of Vodafone Idea.

Meanwhile, Vodafone Idea board will meet on 4 September 2020 to consider raising funds in one or more tranches.

A three-judge apex court bench, headed by Justice Arun Mishra, on 31 August 2020 allowed telecom operators ten years to pay up dues related to adjusted gross revenue (AGR). The SC bench directed telecom operators to make 10% upfront payment of their AGR dues, with the rest of the payments to begin from 1 April 2021.

In October 2019, the Supreme Court delivered the verdict on the AGR issue for calculating government dues of telecom companies as licence fee and spectrum usage charges. Later in March 2020, the department of telecommunications (DoT) appealed to the apex court seeking 20 years for paying AGR dues. However, SC expressed reservations about granting 20-year time, voicing doubt about recovery of dues.

Vodafone Idea reportedly a has dues of around Rs 58,254 crore of which it has paid Rs 3,500 crore so far.

The teleco pared its stake in Indus Towers for Rs 4,000 crore. However, it will have to make a pre-payment of Rs 2,400 crore to the Indus Tower-Bharti Infratel merged entity. The company will thus get around Rs 1,600 crore from the stake sale in the tower firm, the media reports suggested.

Vodafone Idea operates as a telecom service provider. The company offers 2G, 3G, and 4G mobile services, as well as mobile payments, advanced enterprise offerings, and entertainment.

The telco reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 25,460 crore in Q1 FY21, higher than net loss of Rs 4,873.90 crore in Q1 FY20. Gross revenue in Q1 June 2020 stood at Rs 10,659.30 crore, down by 5.4% from Rs 11,269.90 crore in Q1 June 2019.

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