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Informist, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025

By Arya S. Biju and Shakshi Jain

MUMBAI – Vodafone Idea Ltd. expects to spend around INR 75 billion to INR 80 billion as capital expenditure for the full year 2025–26 (Apr-Mar), the company's management said in a post-earnings conference call with analysts Tuesday. The capital expenditure for the rest of FY26, as well as going forward, will be used to expand fourth-generation coverage to 90% of the population, expand coverage to new markets, and expand fifth-generation coverage, the company said. 

"And we are not really looking for the external funding for this particular capex (for FY26). It is part of the internal accrual, as well as the money that we have," a top company official said. The company had incurred capital expenditure of INR 17.50 billion during the September quarter, and INR 42.00 billion in Apr-Sept. 

During the September quarter, the company added over 1,500 new unique fourth-generation towers and deployed around 3,200 new sites on the sub-gigahertz 900 megahertz spectrum in the 16 circles, strengthening its fourth-generation network. It also added over 3,600 additional sites on 1,800 megahertz and 2,100 megahertz bands. Going forward, Vodafone Idea plans to deploy 12 million smart metering solutions in the next three years, under its enterprise arm, VI Business, which has been driving significant growth and value-led innovation in the Internet of Things space.  

In the six months post the launch of its fifth-generation services in Mumbai in March, Vodafone Idea has rolled out its fifth-generation coverage to 17 telecommunication circles and across 29 cities. Out of the 29 cities, the company launched fifth-generation services in 25 cities in the September quarter, the management said. The company had increased the price of its 1.5 gigabytes data plan to INR 349 from INR 299 in some of the markets where it had launched its fifth-generation services initially, its management said, adding that it would announce similar price increases in other markets as and when it sees enough customer traction in its fifth-generation network in those regions. 

When asked about technology upgrades and the debate on fifth-generation non-standalone and standalone architecture, the company's management said its fifth-generation network uses a non-standalone architecture, which leverages existing fourth-generation long-term evolution network for control and signalling to enable a faster 5G rollout. "...And I think that's kind of doing the work for us. But yes, at the same time, I can also say that at any point in time that we feel like moving to the SA (standalone) architecture,... we are right now capable to move to SA (standalone architecture)," a top official said. 

The debt-ridden telecommunications major said it remains actively engaged with lenders for tying up debt funding towards the execution of its long-term network expansion plans. With the Supreme Court's recent order allowing the government to reconsider and reconcile all adjusted gross revenue dues of the company till 2016-17 (Apr-Mar), including penalty and interests, Vodafone Idea expects that "there would be a little bit of a dependency of that (the court order) with the banks when they are looking at a long-term funding."

On the company's petition seeking quashing of the Department of Telecommunications' additional adjusted gross revenue demand of INR 94.50 billion till FY19, Vodafone Idea said it welcomes the Supreme Court's order and is currently in discussion with the Department of Telecommunications for the next steps on this matter. "We are pretty hopeful, government being a 49% (stakeholder of the company) player, to look at a long-term solution... government has been extremely helpful, and we are very hopeful that it (the AGR dues case) will be resolved as soon as possible," Chief Executive Officer Abhijit Kishore said. As of Sept. 25, the telecommunications company had total adjusted gross revenue dues of around INR 785 billion to INR 790 billion, a top company official said.  

Vodafone Idea Monday reported a consolidated net loss of INR 55.24 billion for the September quarter, lower than the INR 66.08-billion net loss reported in the preceding quarter and the INR 71.76-billion net loss reported in the corresponding quarter last year. Analysts had expected the company to report a consolidated net loss of INR 67.80 billion for the September quarter. Its consolidated net sales for the quarter rose around 2% on quarter and over 2% on year to INR 111.95 billion. This was also higher than the INR 111.32 billion estimated by the Street.

The company's bottom line for the quarter was supported by a 19% sequential decline in finance costs, which accounted for 28% of its total costs at INR 47.84 billion. This fall was primarly due to lower foreign exchange fluctuations, and reversal of provisions made in the previous quarter related to settlements with certain vendors, the management said. The company's cash earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation pre-IndAS 116, for the September quarter was INR 22.46 billion, down from INR 23.24 billion in the year-ago quarter. This was mainly on the back of investments made by the company, it said. 

Tuesday, shares of the company closed almost 8% higher at INR 10.24 on the National Stock Exchange.  End

Edited by Avishek Dutta

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