Indus Towers in talks with Vi for ‘time-bound plan’ to repay dues

livemint.com:

Indus Towers, the world’s largest telecom tower provider, is in discussions with Vodafone Idea to create a ‘time-bound’ plan for the repayment of the telco's dues, even as it has received some pending dues from Vi during the quarter. “While the customer had some challenges during the quarter, we will receive the monthly payments in October from them. Our expectation is that the monthly payment will continue.

We will continue to charge as per the MSA (master services agreement) rates and are currently working with them on creating a robust, time-bound plan to unwind the past dues," Prachur Shah, MD and CEO of Indus Towers said during an earnings call on Thursday, without naming Vodafone Idea. “We received the payment subsequently and those delays have been cleared. We do expect 100% or near-100% payment to continue going forward.

There was some financial commitment that they had in the previous quarter, but that hump is pretty much over, so we expect the near-100% payment to continue," the company’s chief financial officer Vikas Poddar said. Vodafone Idea paid ₹1,701 crore as spectrum dues to the government in the quarter ended September. The executives said they were keeping a close eye on Vi's fundraising plans, which have been in the works for several quarters.

Vodafone Idea’s ability to repay its vendors and its 5G rollout depends on the nearly ₹20,000 crore fundraise in debt and equity. Akshaya Moondra, chief executive of Vodafone Idea, said in its June-quarter earnings that the telco was looking to complete the fundraise by the end of the year. Indus Towers recorded a net profit of ₹1295 crore for the September quarter, about 49% higher than the ₹872 crore it clocked in the same quarter in the previous financial