Vodafone Idea Advances ₹45,000 Crore Capex Plan As Lender Talks Progress, Network Expansion Accelerates

Vodafone Idea is making progress with lenders across multiple funding channels as the telecom operator prepares to accelerate network investments under its ₹45,000 crore three-year capital expenditure plan.

Chief Executive Officer Abhijit Kishore said the company is engaged with lenders across three funding categories and has made “substantial progress” in discussions. The funding structure includes a consortium of public sector banks led by State Bank of India, private sector banks and foreign lenders through external commercial borrowings.

Vodafone Idea pushes network expansion after fresh funding

The telecom company recently raised its first tranche of funding worth ₹6,400 crore, including ₹1,183 crore through promoter warrants along with debt and non-funded facilities from foreign and domestic lenders.

Vodafone Idea expects the funds to support faster network expansion. The company has already placed equipment orders worth around ₹9,000 crore with vendors including Ericsson, Nokia and Samsung.

The company plans to deploy these orders over the next two quarters, with network expansion progressing at an average pace of around 3,500 additional 4G sites every month. Vodafone Idea invested ₹1,930 crore in capital expenditure during the June quarter, although supply-chain challenges affected deployment during the period.

Kishore said the company intends to maintain the pace of investment as it strengthens its network infrastructure.

Subscriber growth and 5G rollout show early recovery signs

Vodafone Idea’s operational performance has shown improvement, with the company adding subscribers for the first time since its 2018 merger. Its customer base reached 193.1 million at the end of June.

The company also reported a 24 basis points year-on-year decline in subscriber churn. Over the past year, Vodafone Idea has added more than 15,600 sites, increasing its nationwide 4G coverage to 87%.

Its 5G network has expanded to more than 16,000 sites across over 200 cities. The company plans to extend 5G services to another 200-plus cities over the next two quarters.

The telecom operator is seeking additional financing support as it attempts to improve network quality, regain subscribers and compete more effectively in India’s highly competitive telecom market.