Voda Idea's survival critical for Indus Towers, says Bharti Enterprises' Akhil Gupta
Bharti Enterprises vice chairman Akhil Gupta has said cash-strapped Vodafone Idea’s survival is vital for growth of India’s biggest telecom tower company, Indus Towers, in which Bharti Airtel is the biggest stakeholder.
Gupta also expects a combination of higher data consumption and fixed wireless services to drive 5G monetisation for India’s top telcos in the near-term.
“Indus’s growth will be dependent on Vi catching up on 4G investments and eventually rolling out 5G…hence survival of Vi is important for Indus’ growth prospects,” JP Morgan quoted Gupta as saying in a recent investor summit hosted by the global brokerage.
Loss-making Vi has been struggling to raise funds needed to pay vendors and the government, expand its 4G coverage and invest in its pending 5G rollout to compete effectively with bigger rivals Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel.
Vi’s chief executive Akshaya Moondra though recently told the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) that the company had made significant progress in its ongoing talks with several groups of investors to raise equity and equity-linked capital, and had term sheets from some potential investors. But the telco is yet to close its fundraise.
JP Morgan quoted Bharti’s Gupta saying that India “needs three fully functional private operators,” which is why the survival of Vi was important.
