Vodafone Idea SBI-led consortium loan discussions are taking longer than anticipated due to the involvement of multiple lenders. However, CEO Abhijit Kishore said the company remains confident about securing funding.
During the company’s Q2 FY27 earnings call on Friday, Kishore said private and foreign bank funding was sufficient to maintain capital expenditure momentum.
“The involvement of multiple lenders has resulted in the overall process taking a little longer than what we had earlier anticipated, but we remain confident in our engagement with the consortium,” Kishore said.
The telecom operator plans to invest Rs 50,000 crore to Rs 55,000 crore by 2027. The investment will support network upgrades and help maintain its market competitiveness.
Vodafone Idea seeks Rs 35,000 crore in bank funding
Vodafone Idea is seeking Rs 25,000 crore in loans and Rs 10,000 crore in non-funded facilities. It is engaging three lender groups: the SBI-led public sector bank consortium, Indian private banks and foreign banks.
Meanwhile, the company secured more than Rs 10,500 crore in total funding during the first half of FY27. This includes warrants and funded and non-funded facilities.
Kishore said the company arranged over Rs 4,000 crore in incremental bank funding during the September quarter.
“Meanwhile, the incremental funding secured in H1 FY27 from the Indian private bank and foreign bank is sufficient to maintain our capex momentum,” he said.
The company does not require the entire proposed funding immediately. Instead, it plans to draw down funds according to its requirements.
Kishore also said discussions with public sector banks were close to closure.
Vodafone Idea has partly funded its capital expenditure through rights issues, promoter support and liquidity generated after government relief on statutory dues.
Spectrum services to continue across eight circles
Vodafone Idea said its services would not face disruption across eight circles. Their spectrum licences come up for renewal in December, although auction dates remain unannounced.
Kishore said the company had conveyed its interest in retaining the spectrum. He added that operators generally continue using spectrum until auctions take place.
Meanwhile, the company paid over Rs 4,300 crore in spectrum dues during October. Consequently, its total payments exceeded Rs 6,000 crore against approximately Rs 7,000 crore due in FY27.
Chief Financial Officer Tejas Mehta said the company’s bank debt stood at Rs 943 crore on September 30. Its free cash and bank balance amounted to Rs 5,470 crore.
“As of today, our old legacy bank debt has been fully repaid. The current drawdowns now represent incremental funding secured by the company,” Mehta said.
Vodafone Idea Q2 loss widens to Rs 5,975 crore
Vodafone Idea reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 5,975 crore for Q2 FY27. The loss widened from Rs 5,524 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.
The company attributed the higher reported loss partly to an exceptional loss of Rs 462 crore. This arose from remeasurement of 328 crore shares earmarked by Vodafone Group entities for five years.
However, the company had recorded a gain of Rs 1,816 crore on these shares during the previous quarter. The latest filing cited an adverse mark-to-market impact on treasury assets.
Adjusted for exceptional items, the quarterly loss stood at Rs 5,513 crore. This compared with Rs 5,562 crore in Q2 FY26.
Revenue from operations increased 6.2 per cent to Rs 11,884 crore. It had stood at Rs 11,195 crore in the year-ago quarter.
Capex more than doubles as network expansion continues
Vodafone Idea’s capital expenditure more than doubled sequentially to Rs 3,946 crore during the September quarter. Furthermore, it placed orders worth over Rs 13,200 crore against its three-year capex guidance of Rs 45,000 crore.
The company added nearly 9,000 broadband towers during the quarter. This took its total network to approximately 2.28 lakh towers.
Kishore said Vodafone Idea remained on track to complete its 4G network rollout by FY28. Meanwhile, its 5G services are available across 400 cities and towns.
The company’s total subscriber base increased to 19.44 crore at September-end. It had reported 19.31 crore subscribers in the previous quarter and 19.67 crore a year earlier.
However, its 4G and 5G subscriber base increased to 131 million. This compared with 127.8 million in the corresponding period last year.
ARPU rises 10 per cent as customer upgrades support growth
Vodafone Idea’s average revenue per user (ARPU) increased 10 per cent to Rs 198 in Q2 FY27. It had stood at Rs 180 in Q2 FY26.
Kishore said customer upgrades primarily supported the improvement. However, organic ARPU growth moderated due to the seasonal nature of the September quarter.
He expects growth to return to levels seen in previous quarters from the next quarter. Additionally, he said the company would participate in a structural tariff increase, which the telecom industry needs.
