Exceptional items widen Vodafone Idea loss

Mumbai: Telecom company Vodafone Idea (Vi) reported a consolidated net loss of ₹5,975 crore in the September quarter which widened from ₹5,524 crore a year earlier, dragged by exceptional charges related to reassessment of assets linked to UK's Vodafone Group entities.

The company recorded an exceptional loss of ₹462 crore from the remeasurement of settlement assets linked to shares earmarked by Vodafone Group entities. Barring exceptional items, the net loss stood at ₹5,513 crore, marginally lower than ₹5,562 crore a year earlier.

Vi said it had secured more than ₹10,500 crore in funding by the end of the first half, including warrant proceeds and funded and non-funded facilities. Of this, more than ₹4,000 crore in incremental bank funding was secured during the September quarter.


The company has placed capital expenditure orders worth more than ₹13,200 crore, of which nearly ₹6,000 crore has been executed, as part of its previously outlined ₹45,000-crore investment programme over three years, it said. "Encouraged by our progress in discussions to raise funding, we are confident to place additional orders and sustain the momentum in our network expansion," Abhijit Kishore, chief executive, Vi said in the earnings release.

Vi had said in August that it had secured an initial ₹6,400 crore through warrant proceeds and financing facilities, and placed network equipment orders worth ₹9,000 crore.

In the September quarter, Vi's revenue from operations rose 6.2% year-on-year to ₹11,884 crore, supported by customer upgrades. Sequentially, revenue increased 1.7% while the net loss widened from ₹3,754 crore in the June quarter, which had benefited from an exceptional gain of ₹1,611 crore.

Vi added 1.3 million subscribers during the quarter, taking its overall base to 194.4 million from 193.1 million at June-end.