Vodafone Idea MD Takkar thanks users for support, avoids crisis mention

Vodafone Idea (Vi)’s MD and CEO Ravinder Takkar thanked the telco’s 270 million subscribers for their support, assuring them that the telco will continue to provide “superior services and best-in-class propositions”. Ironically, this message to the customers few days after Vi informed the Supreme Court that without AGR corrections, it will go “under” and subscribers will be left “high and dry”.

“…Vi came with a promise of a better tomorrow, bringing the best in technology, services and solutions for the Digital Indian and Digital Bharat. We will continue to deliver on this promise to keep you ahead,” said Takkar on Friday in a message to subscribers. The message comes about a year after the rollout of Vi brand.

Although the MD did not highlight anywhere, this message comes at a time when the telco is in severe financial crunch and has filed a review petition in Supreme Court, appealing “errors” in AGR be corrected or the telco will go under.

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has raised AGR dues of Rs 58,254 crore from Vi, of which it has paid Rs 7,854 crore. Vi had said there was double counting by the telecom department and some of the payments made were not included. The telco’s own calculations put the AGR dues at Rs 21,533 crore, which was earlier disallowed by the top court.

“The petitioner will go under, and its approximately 27.33 (June 2021) crore subscribers will be left high and dry… will lose its investment of lakhs of crores of rupees in this business… approximately 10,000 direct, approximately 10,000 associate employees, and approximately 100,000 distributors, retailers and store staff will lose their jobs and employment,” warned Vi

However Takkar’s message spoke about the company’s 4G reach, the digital portfolio offered to subscribers and 5G proposiation.

“We expanded our 4G coverage to cover 1 Billion Indians and continued to be rated as India’s fastest 4G network. We have built a 5G-ready network and incorporated technologies…we reinforce our commitment to continue providing you with superior services and best-in-class propositions,” he added.

At March end, Vi said it owes Rs 1.57 lakh crore to the government, including Rs 96,270 crore towards spectrum payments and the rest towards adjusted gross revenue (AGR) liability.

The telco will declare its Q1 FY22 results on Saturday.