Govt should take control of Vodafone Idea, says Deutsche Bank report

The telecom company has sought an extension of the moratorium till April 2023 to pay over Rs 8,000 crore dues related to spectrum purchase

The government should convert Vodafone Idea’s (Vi) debt into equity to avoid a duopoly in the telecom sector, Deutsche Bank Research said in its report on Monday. This, the bank suggested, would be the only viable solution in the backdrop of the Supreme Court dismissing the telecom company’s application for recomputation of adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues.

“The vast majority of Vi’s debt is spectrum and AGR obligations, and the company will need to take on 5G spectrum at some point too. Private investors are extremely unlikely to save the company, given successive governments seeing telecom capital as something to target,”