Vodafone Idea is one of India’s largest telecommunications companies along with Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio.  Vodafone Idea has a market share of 23% in India and Reliance Jio leads the market with a share of 34%.  Indian telecom companies have been hurt badly by the Supreme Court verdict on the Adjusted Gross Revenues (AGR) case.  The AGR is a fee sharing mechanism between the telcos and the government who shifted to the ‘revenue-sharing fee’ model in 1999, from the ‘fixed license fee’ model.  In this course, telcos are supposed to share a percentage of their AGR with the government.  

Following the Supreme Court verdict which came against the favour of telcos, the verdict directs the telcos to pay the due payments to the government over a course of ten years.  The total amount due as per the Department of Telecom’s submission to the Supreme Court is Rs. 119,292 crores.  Out of its total dues of Rs. 43,980 crores, Bharti Airtel has paid Rs. 18,004 crores so far while Rs. 25,976 crores are still remaining.  Vodafone Idea’s dues are the highest at Rs. 58,254 crores, of which the company has paid Rs. 6,354 crores and the balance due is Rs. 51,400 crores.

This has hurt both Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea as they have to raise enough capital to pay the dues.  Failure to pay the dues means the telcos are looking at bankruptcy.  According to a report by Jefferies Equity Research, dated September 1st, Vodafone Idea could require up to ₹18,800 crores by the end of March 2023.  To do so, it will need to raise money since its existing operating profit is less than annual payments that will be due.  Vodafone Idea on Friday said it will raise up to ₹ 25,000 crores.  The fundraising will be through the sale of shares or non convertible debentures (NCDs.)  Both routes of fundraising have a limit of ₹ 15,000 crores each. The proposed fundraising is subject to regulatory and shareholders approvals.  Vodafone Idea will take up the proposal at its annual general meeting on 30 September.

Vodafone Idea has therefore announced a rebranding as part of its fundraising efforts and going forward Vodafone Idea will be called Vi.  This is because Idea is now integrated with Vodafone.  Launching the new brand, Ravinder Takkar, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Vodafone Idea Limited, said “the brand integration not only marks the completion of the largest telecom merger in the world but also sets us on our future journey to offer world class digital experiences to one billion indians on our strong 4G network.  VIL is now leaner and agile and the deployment of many principles of 5G architecture has helped us transform into a future-fit, digital network for the changing customer needs (sic.)”

The future of Vi is still uncertain and more updates will be revealed in the following weeks and a new updated tariff plan will also be rolled out.  Vi looks to earn back its customers and get back to being a strong market leader which it once was and only time will tell what is in store for Vi and its customers.