Vodafone Idea raises Rs 18K cr

Mumbai: Aditya Birla Group Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla on Thursday said the Rs18,000-crore fundraise by Vodafone Idea is a fresh lease of life for the company and asserted that the telco will stage a smart comeback.

The company, which has been struggling to hold on to subscribers amid aggressive play by bigger rivals Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel, will focus on increasing its network, densifying it and also selectively introduce 5G services, Birla told reporters at the listing ceremony of Vodafone Idea’s follow-on public offer.

Calling it as the beginning of ‘Vi 2.0’, Birla said the money raised will be invested in the business, which will trigger a cycle of growth.

“Vi will stage a smart comeback, this moment marks the beginning of Vi 2.0,” Birla said at the listing ceremony. When asked if most of the problems for the company get sorted with the capital raise, Birla answered in the affirmative.

“And this is like a sort of fresh lease of life for the company,” he said.

He credited the government’s reform package for ensuring the journey till here for the company and helping preserve a three-player telecom market.

“A nation of 1.4 billion people deserves three private telecom players,” he said, calling Vi as a ‘national asset,’ which serves 215 million people and possesses over 8,000 MHz of spectrum.

Birla declined to comment on the reports of a stake sale in Indus Towers, while speaking with reporters.