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Vodafone Idea (Vi) expects to start rolling out 5G coverage within six months and is in talks with vendors, CEO Akshaya Moondra said on Friday.
While the telco is undergoing advanced OpenRAN trials for 5G, network expansion for 4G remains a priority for the company, he said.
Expansion of 4G coverage, including the establishment of more towers in the sub-GHz segment, capacity growth and the 5G rollout are the main focus areas for the telco’s capital expenditure plans.
“In terms of timelines, our topmost priority is 4G coverage, which is the only reason why we continue to lose subscribers,” Moondra said.
The 4G coverage expansion will kick in within 3-4 months, and coverage will become competitive in 12-15 months, Moondra added.
Meanwhile, 5G investments will be “a bit iterative” in terms of timing, Moondra said.
On Thursday, the telco reported a net loss of Rs 7,674.6 crore, widening 19.5 per cent in the fourth quarter (January-March) of FY24 from Rs 6,418.9 crore in the corresponding quarter of FY23 as a result of higher expenses and stalling revenue.
The telco’s finance cost increased to Rs 6,280.3 crore in Q4, shooting up 25.5 per cent from Rs 6,284 crore in the same quarter of the previous year. For FY24, net loss expanded to Rs 31,238 crore, up 6.6 per cent from Rs 29,301 crore in FY23.
Capex plans
While Vi has recently concluded a Rs 18,000 crore follow-on public offer (FPO), it remains in talks with banks to raise up to Rs 2500 crore and additional non-fund based facilities of up to Rs 10,000 crore, Vi executives said.
Both the fundings are to be utilised primarily towards capex which is expected to be Rs 50,000-55,000 crore over the next three years.
Paying more for more
Rather than focus on the entry-level segment, any tariff increase should focus on usage volumes and “paying more for using more”, Moondra said.
“The market can definitely absorb this (tariff increase). We have been saying, and some of our competitors have also been mentioning that some of the price recovery has to happen in the form of expanding the pay more for using more,” Moondra said.
This has gone away from the market over the last few years, he stressed.
Earlier this week, Bharti Airtel CEO Gopal Vittal had hinted at substantial tariff hikes, saying that call charges in India were at an “absurdly low level” compared to other parts of the world, and that the domestic market was ready to absorb it.
Given that spend on telecom is not discretionary, average spend by users would not be impacted in the event of a tariff hike, Moondra said. He said the amount of consolidation in terms of people surrendering multiple sims as tariffs rise would go down over a period of time.
