Vodafone Idea must clear Indus Towers dues to avail tower company's new services: Sunil Mittal
Vodafone Idea (Vi) should clear all of Indus Towers' past dues, else the struggling telco won't be allowed to use the tower company's infrastructure for any new services such as 5G, Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Mittal said. Airtel is the largest stakeholder in Indus Towers, with around 48% stake.
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«They (Vodafone Idea) will not get new services until they pay money. They have a lot of old dues which they need to pay up. They have raised money, now they should be able to pay up,» Mittal told ET.
But Mittal added that the Indus board will be flexible with its decisions even if Vi pays a substantial amount and gives a schedule for the rest. In that case, the Indus board would look into it. The idea is to get them into more tenancies and business for Indus," Mittal said. Ambit Capital estimated the joint venture of UK's Vodafone Group and India's Aditya Birla Group's (ABG) past dues to Indus at around ₹10,000 crore. Vi is critical to Indus as it contributes around 40% to the tower company's revenue.
Vi has recently raised ₹18,000 crore through the follow-on public offer (FPO) and is in discussions with its battery of lenders to conclude a ₹25,000-crore debt issue, which will help it achieve its targeted ₹45,000 crore fundraise and compete effectively with bigger rivals, Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel. Most of the fund raised will be used to expand its 4G network and roll out 5G services.
Vi plans to start rollout of 5G services in the coming
