INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
into the loss-making Vodafone Idea, Vodafone Group CEO Nick Read said in a conference call, while acknowledging that the telco is going
"It is a highly stressed situation that they are trying to navigate
We as a group try to provide them as much practical support as we can, but I want to make it very clear, we are not putting any additional
equity into India," Nick Read said
Mr Read's statement comes in the backdrop of Mr Birla's recent letter seeking the government's intervention to prevent the telecom
company from collapsing.Kumar Managalam Birla, who holds a 27 per cent in Vodafone Idea, had recently offered to hand over his stake in the
debt-laden telecom company to the government or any other entity that the centre may consider worthy to keep the company float
The government has not yet responded to the offer and there has not been any official response from Vodafone Group either.The crux of
According to the Department of Telecommunications, Vodafone Idea owes more than Rs 50,000 crore as outstanding AGR dues to the
plea.Telecom companies pay a percentage of their revenues as license fees to the government
According to them, non-core businesses such as rent, income from sale of handsets or roaming charges should not be included in the revenue
of which they pay a percentage - they only wanted to pay on revenues earned from their core business.Vodafone Group had merged with Idea
Cellular in 2017 and the merger was completed in August 2018
However, with Vodafone Idea experiencing constant losses in revenues and subscribers, Vodafone Group wrote off its investment in the Indian
telecom company.The telecom sector in the country has seen a huge churn over the last decade
sector during its heydays
