IDEA

Adds details and background from paragraph 2 onwards

March 19 (Reuters) - Vodafone Idea VODA.NS is in exploratory talks with various satellite communication providers, including Starlink, the company said on Wednesday, a week after the Indian telecom firm's rivals signed deals with Elon Musk's company.

The mobile operator made the disclosure after Indian stock exchanges sought a clarification on its stock move and a report by local financial news website Moneycontrol earlier in the day.

Shares of Vodafone Idea rose nearly 5% on Wednesday.

"Our strategy is to provide services -- whether fixed or mobile -- in uncovered areas, where satellite makes perfect sense," Vodafone Idea Chief Technology Officer Jagbir Singh told Moneycontrol, as per the report.

"The other (strategy) is to provide fixed wireless broadband in rural areas and smaller towns, where it is expensive to roll out such services."

Last week, Musk's SpaceX signed deals with Bharti Airtel BRTI.NS and Reliance Jio to bring Starlink's internet services to India.

As part of the deals, the Indian operators will stock Starlink's equipment in their retail stores, giving the US-based satellite communication firm a direct distribution point in thousands of such outlets across the country.

The deals will be conditional on Starlink obtaining government approval to begin operations in the country.

(Reporting by Manvi Pant in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza and Leroy Leo)

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March 7 (Reuters) - Vodafone Idea Ltd VODA.NS:

• VODAFONE IDEA LTD - ORDER PASSED FOR PENALTY OF 107.9 MILLION RUPEES

• VODAFONE IDEA LTD - TO FILE APPEALS AGAINST PENALTY ORDER

Source text: ID:nBSEb7xZHy

Further company coverage: VODA.NS

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Feb 19 (Reuters) - Vodafone Idea Ltd VODA.NS:

• GETS TAX DEPARTMENT ORDER CONFIRMING PENALTY OF 9.7 MILLION RUPEES

Source text: ID:nBSE3dz5Pq

Further company coverage: VODA.NS

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Feb 14 (Reuters) - India's top court has rejected a request by telecom companies to recalculate the dues they owe the government, the Mint business daily reported on Friday.

The news sent shares of debt-saddled Vodafone Idea VODA.NS down 4.6%, while those of larger peer Bharti Airtel BRTI.NS declined 0.2%.

(Reporting by Nandan Mandayam in Bengaluru)

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Feb 11 (Reuters) - Vodafone Idea Ltd VODA.NS:

• Q3 CONSOL LOSS AFTER TAX 66.09 BILLION RUPEES; IBES LOSS EST. 69.78 BILLION RUPEES

• Q3 CONSOL REVENUE FROM OPERATIONS 111.17 BILLION RUPEES; IBES EST. 112.54 BILLION RUPEES

• Q3 ARPU 173 RUPEES

Source text: [ID:]

Further company coverage: VODA.NS

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Feb 4 (Reuters) - Vodafone Idea Ltd VODA.NS:

• VODAFONE IDEA LTD - GETS TAX ORDER CONFIRMING PENALTY OF 24.9 MILLION RUPEES

Source text: ID:nBSE3b8M8v

Further company coverage: VODA.NS

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Jan 31 (Reuters) - Vodafone Idea Ltd VODA.NS:

• GETS TAX ORDER CONFIRMING PENALTY OF 7.9 MILLION RUPEES

Source text: ID:nBSE6tZbQj

Further company coverage: VODA.NS

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Jan 30 (Reuters) - Vodafone Idea Ltd VODA.NS:

• GETS TAX ORDER CONFIRMING PENALTY OF 55.2 MILLION RUPEES

Source text: ID:nBSE8vV53H

Further company coverage: VODA.NS

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Jan 24 (Reuters) - Vodafone Idea Ltd VODA.NS:

• GETS GST ORDER WITH PENALTY OF 7.1 MILLION RUPEES

Source text: ID:nBSE1SwT05

Further company coverage: VODA.NS

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By Divya Chowdhury

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Swedish telecom gear maker Ericsson expects the United States to continue to be at the forefront of technology development under President Donald Trump, which the company is ready to take advantage of, its chief technology officer said.

The industry is now in full-execution phase of OpenRAN, CTO Erik Ekudden told the Reuters Global Markets Forum, adding: "Of course we intend to continue to lead and drive that industry development."

OpenRAN allows operators to mix and match suppliers in their radio networks. Ericsson ERICb.ST, Huawei and Nokia NOKIA.HE, dominate the global telecoms equipment market with their proprietary technologies.

The focus is now on building artificial intelligence (AI)data centers and also leveraging that AI to optimize the performance of 5G networks, Ekudden said.

That is why every country needs to have innovation strategy to build on 5G and AI, he added.

"I expect U.S. to continue to push ahead in that, and if anything, the opportunities just seem fantastic right now to put in an extra gear and then make sure that we are part of that," Ekudden said.

He also said Ericsson's local-for-local manufacturing model gives it an advantage, helping it rely less on global trade and supply chains, as threats of a trade war loom under the new U.S. administration.

However, Ekudden said it was still early days to speculate on tariffs.

(Join GMF, a chat room hosted on LSEG Messenger, for live interviews: https://lseg.group/4ajdDTy)

(Reporting by Divya Chowdhury in Davos and Ankika Biswas in Bengaluru; Editing by Nick Zieminski)

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Jan 21 (Reuters) - Vodafone Idea Ltd VODA.NS:

• INDIA APEX COURT DISMISSES TAX DEPARTMENT'S PETITION AGAINST TAX REFUND ORDER

Source text: ID:nBSER31mJ

Further company coverage: VODA.NS

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By Aditya Kalra and Aditi Shah

NEW DELHI, Jan 20 (Reuters) - India's decision to allocate satellite spectrum, rather than auction it, will give consumers more choice, the telecoms minister said on Monday, playing down concern by Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio that it could lose out to Elon Musk's Starlink.

Starlink has long wanted to launch in India and has in recent months clashed with billionaire Ambani's company over how the country should grant spectrum for satellite services.

Reliance had urged an auction but the Indian government sided with Musk who wanted it to be allocated administratively, in line with global trends. Analysts say an auction, requiring much more investment, would likely deter foreign rivals.

Ambani said he wanted a level playing field and has been worried that his telecom company, which spent $19 billion in airwave auctions, now risks losing broadband customers to Starlink and potentially even data and voice clients later as technology advances.

"My job as telecoms minister is to make sure that you have as many choices as possible," Jyotiraditya Scindia told Reuters during an interview at his ministry's office in New Delhi.

Asked if there was merit in Reliance's concerns, he said, without naming any company: "Technology is never constant", adding that companies need to keep evolving.

Scindia noted that current satellite technology for communications requires devices to have the sky in their sight, and smartphones cannot use that technology for indoor services that are provided by terrestrial networks.

"The minute you come into this building, you're done," he said.

India is one of the world's biggest telecom markets with 942 million users and stiff competition among Reliance and rivals Bharti Airtel BRTI.NS and Vodafone Idea VODA.NS. Data prices are among the cheapest in the world and internet connectivity has risen rapidly.

Deloitte predicts India’s satellite broadband service market will be worth $1.9 billion by 2030, making it lucrative for players like Starlink, Amazon and Ambani.

Scindia said Starlink and Amazon Kuiper's applications for a licence to launch satellite broadband services in the country were still under review.

VODAFONE IDEA

Musk has a reputation for disrupting markets. In Kenya, he priced Starlink at $10 per month, versus $120 in the United States, prompting a complaint by Kenya's Safaricom SCOM.NR last year.

A former aviation minister, Scindia is also overseeing many more telecom initiatives for Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

India's government owns a stake in Vodafone Idea, and the company in November disclosed it still had around $24 billion in dues owed to the government.

Scindia repeatedly declined to answer in the interview if there were any plans for relief on the outstanding dues.

The Indian government is, however, working towards reviving state-run telecom player, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), which lost market share amid fierce competition over the years, he said.

BSNL has 99 million users but is being supported with expanded offerings of 4G services.

(Reporting by Aditya Kalra and Aditi Shah; Additional reporting by Munsif Vengattil; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)

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Jan 14 (Reuters) - Vodafone Idea Ltd VODA.NS:

• OMEGA TELECOM ACQUIRES 1.08 BILLION SHARES OF CO VIA PREFERENTIAL ALLOTMENT

Source text: ID:nBSE7T0hcK

Further company coverage: VODA.NS

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Jan 6 (Reuters) - Vodafone Idea Ltd VODA.NS:

• ENTERED INTO A SHARE PURCHASE AGREEMENT WITH IBUS NETWORK AND INFRASTRUCTURE

• DEAL FOR TRANSFER OF CO’S SHAREHOLDING IN FIREFLY NETWORKS FOR 45 MILLION RUPEES

Further company coverage: VODA.NS

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** Shares of telecom operator Bharti Airtel BRTI.NS jumps 53.6% in 2024, set for best year since 2019

** Peer Vodafone Idea VODA.NS sheds ~51% in 2024

** BRTI also on track to sixth straight year of gains

** Analysts avg rating on BRTI is "buy" vs "hold" for Vodafone Idea -LSEG data

** Their median PT on BRTI is 1850 rupees -LSEG data

** BRTI shares flat at 1585 rupees on the day, while VODA is up 1%

(Reporting by Nandan Mandayam in Bengaluru)

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** Shares of Vodafone Idea VODA.NS rise 2.7% to 7.7 rupees

** Co says the government telecoms department waived the need for a bank guarantee for spectrum auctions

** Waiver for auctions of 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2021

** 19 analysts covering the stock on avg have a "hold" rating; median PT is 7.50 rupees - LSEG data

** Stock down 51% YTD

(Reporting by Ashna Teresa Britto in Bengaluru)

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Dec 19 (Reuters) - Vodafone Idea Ltd VODA.NS:

• VODAFONE IDEA - RECEIVES ORDER UNDER CENTRAL GST ACT

• VODAFONE IDEA LTD - ORDER CONFIRMS PENALTY OF 86.7 MILLION RUPEES PLUS DEMAND AND INTEREST

• VODAFONE IDEA LTD - TO TAKE LEGAL ACTION AGAINST ORDER

Source text: ID:nBSE1HXSRx

Further company coverage: VODA.NS

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Dec 10 (Reuters) - Tejas Networks Ltd TEJS.NS:

• TEJAS NETWORKS LTD - ENTERS THREE-YEAR CONTRACT WITH VODAFONE IDEA

• TEJAS NETWORKS LTD - TO SUPPLY PRODUCTS TO BOOST VODAFONE IDEA'S NETWORK

Source text: ID:nBSE5JFhL0

Further company coverage: TEJS.NS

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Adds details on fundraise in paragraphs 2-4, background on company's debt from paragraph 5 onwards

Dec 9 (Reuters) - Vodafone Idea VODA.NS will raise up to 19.80 billion rupees ($233.8 million) through the issue of preferential shares, the Indian telecom company said on Monday.

Vodafone Idea said it will issue shares to Vodafone Group entities Omega Telecom Holdings and Usha Martin Telematics worth up to 12.8 billion rupees and 7 billion rupees, respectively.

The fundraise will likely help the debt-saddled firm pay some of its dues to network infrastructure provider Indus Towers INUS.NS, to which it owes about 50-60 billion rupees, according to Ambit Capital's Vivekanand Subbaraman.

Vodafone Idea did not specify details about its plans to use the funds.

As of September-end, its total debt pile stood at 2.16 trillion rupees, including deferred spectrum payment obligations it owes to the government.

The company, formed by a merger between the Indian arm of the UK's Vodafone Group VOD.L and Aditya Birla Group's Idea Cellular in 2018, has so far raised about 240 billion rupees in the year.

Parent Vodafone Group announced last week that it was selling its remaining 3% stake in Indus Towers. It will use proceeds to repay its borrowings and infuse fresh capital into Vodafone Idea to help it pay its past dues to Indus, it said.

($1 = 84.7000 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Aleef Jahan and Nishit Navin in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)

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** Shares of Vodafone Idea VODA.NS fall 3% to 8.2 rupees

** VODA's UK-based stakeholder Vodafone Group VOD.L said it will sell remaining 3% stake in Indian telecom infrastructure developer Indus Towers INUS.NS

** Proceeds from share sale to be used to repay VODA's outstanding borrowings to lenders

** Separately, VODA said it will consider fundraise worth up to 20 bln rupees ($236.1 mln) to one or more entities of Vodafone Group in its meeting on Dec. 9

** Proceeds from fundraise to be used to pay VODA's outstanding dues to INUS

** Shares of Indus Towers rise as much as 5% to 375 rupees, highest since Oct. 23

** 79.2 mln shares of INUS change hands via block deals in morning session, at an avg price of 353.7 rupees per share, as per NSE data

($1 = 84.7230 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Ashna Teresa Britto in Bengaluru)

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Corrects typo in headline

** Vodafone Idea VODA.NS surges nearly 18% to 8.21 rupees

** Stock set for biggest one-day jump since Dec 29, 2023

** India govt approves waiving bank guarantees for telecom operators for spectrum bought before 2022, per local media reports

** Vodafone owes over 247 bln rupees (nearly $3 bln) in bank guarantees, easily the highest among the three major telcos

** Bharti Airtel BRTI.NS, No.2 telco, is off 0.2% on the day

** VODA's surge pulls stock to MTD gains of just over 1% and cuts YTD losses to ~49%

** Meanwhile Airtel has jumped nearly 53% so far this year

($1 = 84.2410 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Anuran Sadhu in Bengaluru)

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Nov 13 (Reuters) - India's Vodafone Idea VODA.NS reported a bigger-than-expected second-quarter loss on Wednesday, weighed down by a shrinking user base.

The telecom operator narrowed its consolidated loss after tax to 71.76 billion rupees ($850.7 million) for the quarter ended Sept. 30, compared to a loss of 87.38 billion rupees a year ago, helped by an increase in tariffs.

However, analysts' on average estimated a loss of 64.57 billion rupees, according to data compiled by LSEG.

Vodafone Idea's user base fell 2.4% sequentially and 6.7% year-on-year to 205 million as of Sept. 30, smaller than Jio's 478.8 million and Airtel's 407 million.

The decline resulted from the subscriber base, including 4G users, switching to cheaper alternatives like state-owned BSNL following price hikes.

All three Indian mobile carriers—Jio, Airtel, and Vodafone Idea—increased their tariffs in June for the first time in over two years, marking a shift in their strategy from aggressive competition for market share towards increasing profitability.

The increase in tariffs helped boost Vodafone Idea's average revenue per user (ARPU), a key performance metric for telecom firms, by 7.8% sequentially and 17% year-on-year to 166 rupees during the quarter.

However, its ARPU lagged behind that of Reliance Industries RELI.NS-owned Jio's 195.1 rupees and Bharti Airtel BRTI.NS's 233 rupees for the same period.

Vodafone Idea, formed by a merger between the Indian arm of the UK's Vodafone Group VOD.L and Aditya Birla Group's Idea Cellular in 2018, has posted a loss every quarter as it loses ground to larger rivals Airtel and Jio.

Vodafone Idea's revenue from operations during the quarter rose about 2% to 109.3 billion rupees, but fell short of analysts' estimates of 112.65 billion rupees.

Airtel and Jio previously reported upbeat quarterly profits led by the price hikes.

($1 = 84.3560 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Aleef Jahan and Nishit Navin in Bengaluru; Editing by Abinaya Vijayaraghavan)

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Oct 28 (Reuters) - Bharti Airtel BRTI.NS reported a smaller-than-expected second-quarter profit on Monday, as the telecom operator's expenses outweighed gains from its first tariff hike in over two years.

India's No.2 wireless carrier's consolidated net profit climbed 168% to 35.93 billion rupees ($427.49 million) in the July-September quarter, missing analysts' average estimate of 44.83 billion rupees, as per data compiled by LSEG.

($1 = 84.0490 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Aleef Jahan in Bengaluru; Editing by Abinaya Vijayaraghavan)

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Adds Nokia shares in paragraph 5, Vodafone Idea contract win paragraph 9, Samsung did not respond in paragraph 12

By Supantha Mukherjee

STOCKHOLM, Oct 16 (Reuters) - Finland's Nokia NOKIA.HE is in talks with Bharti Airtel BRTI.NS about securing a multi-billion dollar contract to provide 5G telecom equipment for the Indian mobile operator which is expanding its network, three sources familiar with the matter said.

India is the world's second-largest smartphone market where companies such as Airtel, Reliance's RELI.NS Jio and Vodafone Idea VODA.NS have been spending billions of dollars to upgrade their networks to 5G.

Swedish telecom gear maker Ericsson ERICb.ST already won a multi-billion dollar contract from Bharti Airtel, Reuters reported on Monday.

India last year had helped Nokia and Ericsson offset weakness in demand from U.S. customers. However, the volume of orders from India slowed down significantly after a growth spurt last year.

Nokia, whose shares were up as much as 3% on the contract report, will release third-quarter earnings on Thursday. In the second quarter, Nokia reported an 18% drop in net sales, mainly because of a slowdown in demand in India.

The deal with Airtel would be for Nokia's latest AirScale mobile radios that support upgrading an existing network to 5G-Advanced and reduces energy costs, according to the sources.

Nokia declined to comment. Bharti Airtel did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

One of the sources called the potential Nokia deal a “routine and ongoing arrangement” with network vendor partners.

Nokia last month got part of a $3.6 billion contract from Vodafone Idea that it shared with Ericsson and Samsung.

Alongside Nokia and Ericsson, Airtel is also in talks with Samsung 005930.KS about buying 5G equipment, another source said.

Samsung has been trying to grow its network equipment business, but has so far lagged Nokia and Ericsson. Samsung won its first 5G contract with Airtel in 2022. India has blocked its mobile carriers from using 5G telecom equipment made by China’s Huawei.

Samsung did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee in Stockholm;Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)

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Adds shares in paragraph 2, analyst comment in 6, AT&T contract in 9, CFO comment in 10

By Supantha Mukherjee

STOCKHOLM, Oct 15 (Reuters) - Sweden's Ericsson ERICb.ST said on Tuesday the telecom equipment market is showing signs of improvement after reporting third-quarter core earnings and sales above expectations, helped by a rebound in demand for 5G gear in North America.

Its shares jumped 9% in early trade, reaching their highest level since April 2022.

A fall in demand from North American mobile operators in the last two years had hit companies including Ericsson and Nokia NOKIA.HE, which had to look for growth in developing markets such as India, often at the cost of sacrificing profits.

"We see signs that the overall market is stabilising with North America, as an early adopter market, returning to growth," Ericsson CEO Borje Ekholm said in a statement.

Net sales declined by 4% to 61.8 billion Swedish crowns ($5.92 billion) but beat estimates of 61.6 billion. They were down 1% on an underlying basis.

"Net sales declined 'only' 1% year over year, which was a marked improvement compared to the 7% decline in Q2," Danske Bank Credit Research analyst Mads Lindegaard Rosendal said.

Sales in North America jumped more than 50% to 20.4 billion crowns.

"North America is recovering from very low levels, with last year's Q3 our lowest quarter, so growth in percentage points has become very large, but it is also a very strong quarter," finance chief Lars Sandström said in an interview.

One of the reasons for the growth in North America was the ramping up of sales to AT&T T.N, following its $14 billion, five-year deal last year.

"It has an impact... we also see other customers continue to invest and supporting the growth in North America," Sandström said.

"When it comes to other markets, Europe is flat, and the rest are declining, so we are still in a challenging market."

Sales in Europe and Latin America were down 2%, while other markets were down by double digits.

India, a bright spot last year, has slowed significantly. But the company has now got new contracts there from Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel.

Changes in the geographic mix led to a jump in adjusted gross margin to 46.3% from 39.2% a year earlier.

Ericsson's adjusted core earnings, excluding impairments, stood at 7.33 billion crowns compared with 3.9 billion crowns reported a year earlier and beat a 5.75 billion crown mean forecast in an LSEG poll of analysts.

($1 = 10.4353 Swedish crowns)

(Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee; Editing by Louise Heavens and Mark Potter)

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Adds context in paragaphs 3-4, further comment from source in paragraph 5, background on telecom industry paragraphs 7-9

By Supantha Mukherjee

STOCKHOLM, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Swedish telecom gear maker Ericsson ERICb.ST has received a new multi-billion dollar contract for selling 5G equipment from India's Bharti Airtel BRTI.NS, two sources familiar with the matter said.

This comes after Ericsson got part of a $3.6 billion contract last month for selling 5G equipment to India's Vodafone Idea VODA.NS. It shared the contract with Nokia NOKIA.HE and Samsung 005930.KS.

The new contracts are expected to boost Ericsson's revenue next year after seeing a big fall in contracts from India in the first half of the year.

Sales in Southeast Asia, Oceania, and India had decreased by 44% in the second quarter. Ericsson will announce its third-quarter results on Tuesday.

Much of the deployment is likely to happen next year, according to one source familiar with the matter.

Ericsson declined to comment. Airtel did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Shares in Ericsson rose as much as 1.8% after the Reuters story.

Demand from the Indian 5G market started to skyrocket in 2023, when sales from the region grew as much as five times, as Airtel and Jio, the telecoms unit of Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries RELI.NS, started to scale up 5G services.

That demand cushioned a slowdown in revenue from Ericsson's main U.S. market where telecom operators have been lowering spending.

Global telecom equipment revenue had dropped 16% year-over-year in the second quarter, recording a fourth consecutive quarter of double-digit contractions, according to research firm Dell'Oro.

(Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee in Stockholm; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)

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BENGALURU, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Bharti Airtel BRTI.NS has made an early payment of 84.65 billion rupees ($1.01 billion) to the Indian government, partially settling its outstanding spectrum fees from a 2016 auction, the telecom carrier announced on Monday.

This is the first payment the country's second-largest telecom operator is making for the phone spectrum it acquired for $2.13 billion in 2016. Phone spectrums are rights over airwaves bought for a particular time.

Indian telecom operators have accumulated significant dues to the government over spectrum fees, following years of high-stakes auctions and competitive bidding for airwave rights.

Airtel, which did not disclose how much of the 2016 dues are pending after the payment, did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

It has fully prepaid its 2012 and 2015 spectrum fees during the first quarter of the current financial year.

Airtel's latest payment comes weeks after India's top court rejected a request by telecom firms to recalculate the dues they owed the government.

As per an ICRA estimate, Airtel and its struggling rival Vodafone Idea VODA.NS owe roughly $12 billion in past dues, including spectrum charges and licensing fees to the government.

Monday's payment to the government's telecom department had an interest rate of 9.3%, Airtel said.

($1 = 83.7750 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Varun Hebbalalu in Bengaluru; Editing by Abinaya Vijayaraghavan
)

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BENGALURU, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Vodafone Idea VODA.NS has begun fresh talks with the Indian government for "remedies" related to $8.4 billion in owed dues, the telecom operator said on Monday, days after the country's top court dismissed a plea to re-compute the dues.

The court ruling is the latest setback for India's no.3 wireless carrier, which had been hoping for relief on the dues related to license fees and spectrum charges that account for about a third of its overall debt of $24 billion.

The company's long-term business plan and revival strategy remain unaffected by the ruling, said CEO Akshaya Moondra on a call with analysts on Monday.

Vodafone Idea and no.2 rival Bharti Airtel BRTI.NS had, in a last-resort petition against a similar ruling by the top court in 2021, argued that the telecom department made errors in calculating the so-called adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues.

Telecom firms have long contested that only revenue accrued from core services should be taken into account, while the government has argued that AGR includes non-core revenue as well.

Following the 2021 ruling, the government brought a relief package for the telecoms sector that included, among other things, a four-year moratorium on airwaves-related payments due to the government.

"We expect to engage further with the government and look forward to working with them and finding a solution for this challenge... we strongly feel that is very possible," said Ravinder Takkar, the company's non-executive chairman.

Vodafone Idea also said it is in advanced talks with existing and new lenders for 250 billion rupees of fund-based loans and 100 billion rupees of non-fund-based loans. It expects the bank funding to conclude in the next seven to eight weeks, it said.

The company is planning a tariff hike in the next 15 months, similar to the industry-wide hike announced in July, Moondra said.

Vodafone Idea shares, which lost about 17% since the ruling on Thursday, closed 3.3% higher on Monday after the company announced a $3.6 billion deal for network equipment supply.

(Reporting by Aleef Jahan, Chris Thomas in Bengaluru)

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By Swati Bhat

MUMBAI, Sept 22 (Reuters) - India's Vodafone Idea on Sunday concluded a $3.6 billion deal with mobile and network manufacturers Nokia NOKIA.HE, Ericsson ERICb.ST and Samsung 005930.KS for supply of equipment over a period of three years, it said in a statement to exchanges.

"The deal marks the first step towards the roll-out of the company's transformative three-year capex plan of $6.6 billion (550 billion rupees)," the company said.

"The capex programme is directed towards expanding the 4G population coverage from 1.03 billion to 1.2 billion, launching 5G in key markets and capacity expansion in line with data growth," it said.

Vodafone Idea VODA.NS, formed by a merger between the Indian arm of UK's Vodafone Group VOD.L and Aditya Birla Group's Idea Cellular in 2018, has posted a loss in every quarter as it lost market share to larger rivals Bharti Airtel BRTI.NS and Reliance Jio.

Earlier in 2024, the company sold shares to institutional investors, raised funds through the country's largest-ever follow-on public offer and is also in talks with lenders as part of its plans to raise around $5 billion to roll out 5G network service, expand 4G coverage and regain market share.

Supplies under the new contract will start arriving in the coming quarter, Vodafone Idea said, adding that its top priority remains to expand the 4G coverage.

"The Capex is currently being funded out of the equity raise. For the long-term Capex, the company is in advanced stage of discussions with its existing and new lenders to tie up 250 billion rupees of funded and 100 billion rupees of non-fund-based facilities," Chief Executive Officer Akshaya Moondra said.

On Thursday, India's top court rejected a request by telecom companies including Vodafone Idea to recalculate the dues they owed the government and sent shares tumbling. Vodafone Idea shares are down over 40% so far this quarter.

Analysts at ICRA estimate that Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel owe 1 trillion rupees ($12 billion) in past dues, including spectrum charges and licensing fees. They did not provide estimates for other firms.

(Reporting by Swati Bhat; Editing by Tom Hogue)

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** Vodafone Idea VODA.NS drops as much as 5.7%, last down 2.5% to 10.12 rupees, extending losses a day after India's Supreme Court rejects telcos' plea to recalculate dues owed to the government

** Stock dropped 19.5% in last session

** Bharti Airtel BRTI.NS up 0.7%

** Morgan Stanley says competitive position of strong players like Airtel may improve on the court ruling, given the peers' weak balance sheets

** Nomura says it did not factor in upsides of Supreme Court potentially reducing VODA's dues; sharp drop gives opportunity to buy

** JP Morgan says it doesn't expect VODA to change its 4G and 5G rollout plans although ruling is negative for co

** On avg, VODA rated "sell", Airtel "buy" - LSEG

(Reporting by Varun Vyas in Bengaluru)

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