MUMBAI:
Vodafone Idea Ltd., the leading mobile telecommunications provider that covers 90.7% of Indian population, will open on 10 th April its rights issue sized at Rs. 25,000 crore – the largest ever in the history of corporate India and its telecom sector.
The Rights Issue of Vodafone Idea comprises 1,999.98 crore equity shares of face value of Rs. 10 each for cash a Price of Rs. 12.50 (Net Asset Value expected to Rs. 31.16 post Rights Issue) aggregating to Rs. 24,997.9 crore to eligible equity shareholders on a rights basis in the ratio of 87 rights equity shares for every 38 equity shares held by them on the record date (Record date – 2 nd April). The Rights Issue will open on 10 th April and will close on 24 th April 2019.Out of the Rights Issue proceeds, Rs. 18,674.79 crore will be utilized for payment of certain deferred payment liabilities to the DoT and repayment of certain borrowings (including interest) and Rs. 6,220 crore towards general corporate purposes.
The Promoter shareholders – Vodafone Group (one of the world’s largest telecommunications groups) and Aditya Birla Group(one of India’s largest conglomerates with operations in 34 countries) – confirmed their participation of up to Rs. 11,000 crore and up to Rs. 7,250 crore respectively; in excess of their combined current entitlement. Furthermore, certain Promoter shareholders have also indicated that, in case the rights issue is undersubscribed, they reserve the right to subscribe to part or whole amount.
Vodafone Idea has the largest spectrum portfolio, large network investments in the form of network sites and optical fiber, wide distribution reach and customer affinity for its two strong brands – Vodafone and Idea. And thus, is very well positioned to be successful in the new operating paradigm in the marketplace. The Company had a Revenue Market Share of approximately 32% of the Indian mobile telecommunications services industry (excluding wire line revenue for Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited) for the quarter ended December 31, 2018 (as reported by TRAI).
Vodafone Idea had a Revenue Market Share of approximately 32% of the Indian mobile telecommunications services industry (excluding wire line revenue for Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited) for the quarter ended December 31, 2018 (as reported by TRAI). It had 387.2 million subscribers as of December 31, 2018. It had 391 million visitor location register (“VLR”) subscribers and VLR subscriber market share as of December 31, 2018 was 38% (as reported by TRAI). For the quarter ended December 31, 2018, it carried approximately 712 billion voice minutes and approximately 2,705 billion MB of data volume.
As of December 31, 2018, its broadband network is spread across approximately 270,000 towns and villages and covers approximately 68.8%of the Indian population. As of December 31, 2018, its sales network comprised approximately 28,000 distributors servicing approximately 1.35 million third-party retailers for our voice and data services, resulting in 155serviced outlets per 100,000 persons in the population it covers.
Vodafone Idea is progressing well on its stated strategy post-merger. With the accelerated integration of two businesses, the Company announced in November 2018 that the guided cost synergies would be achieved by FY2021, two years ahead of the initial target set at the time of the original merger announcement in March 2017. The outcome of exhaustive planning is a well-defined five-pillar strategy:1. Accelerating the integration; 2. Prioritize investments; 3. Drive ARPU through simplification; 4. Focus on fast-growing revenue streams and partnership approach to drive value; and 5. To strengthen the balance sheet.
