4G LTE

Vi Capex dropped to Rs 8.4 bn in April-June quarter

August 3, 2022

Vodafone Idea, India’s third largest mobile network operator, said its Capex spend for April-June quarter of 2022 dropped to Rs 8.4 billion vs Rs 12.1 billion in the January-March quarter of 2022.

Vi has added 4G 2,600 sites during the quarter primarily through re-farming of 2G /3G spectrum to expand 4G coverage and capacity as well as upgrade of core and transmission network.

Vi’s broadband site count stood at 454,727 as of June 30, 2022. Vi has shut down ~3,100 3G sites during the quarter. Till date, Vi has deployed nearly 71,900 TDD sites in addition to the deployment of ~13,800 Massive MIMO sites and ~13,300 small cells.

Vi has expanded LTE 900 presence in 12 circles at multiple locations, including via dynamic spectrum refarming, to improve customer experience. Vi’s 4G network covers over 1 billion Indians as of June 30, 2022.

Vi is the fastest 4G network in India as per Opensignal’s April 2022 India Mobile Network Experience report. Vi also has the highest rated voice quality in the country as per TRAI’s MyCall app data for 17 out of 20 months between November 2020 and June 2022.

Vi said ARPU improved 3.6 percent q-o-q to Rs 128 vs Rs 124 in Q4FY22. Vi’s ARPU grew 23.4 percent
y-o-y aided by tariff hikes. The subscriber base declined to 240.4 million vs 243.8 million in Q4FY22. Vi added 1 million 4G subscribers in Q1 and 4G base now stands at 119.0 million. Subscriber churn was marginally higher at 3.5 percent vs 3.4 percent in Q4FY22.

Vi said revenue rose 1.7 percent q-o-q and 13.7 percent y-o-y to Rs 104.1 billion primarily due to hike in mobile charges.

Vi’s debt as of June 30, 2022 stands at Rs 1,990.8 billion, comprising of deferred spectrum payment obligations of Rs 1,166.0 billion and AGR liability of Rs 672.7 billion that are due to the Government, and debt from banks and financial institutions of Rs 152.0 billion. Cash & cash equivalents were Rs 8.6 billion and net debt stood at Rs 1,982.2 billion.

Meanwhile, Vi said Ravinder Takkar will be its Chairman effective 19th August 2022. Ravinder Takkar will assume the Chairman’s job from Himanshu Kapania, who will step down as non executive Chairman of the Board.