Vi declines report on acquisition by US telco; stock plunges 8%

Telecom company Vodafone-Idea Ltd on Monday denied reports of getting acquired by the US telecom giant soon. The statement comes after several news reports during the weekend stated that US telecom majors -- Verizon, Amazon and Starlink are in the race to acquire the debt-ridden telecom company.

"This is in relation to News Item titled “Vodafone Idea to be acquired by a US telecom giant Soon? Verizon, Amazon or Starlink in the race," which is doing rounds in electronic and social media. We wish to submit that the said News item is incorrect. The company is not in discussion with any of the named parties,” the telecom company says in a stock exchange filing.

On September 16, Vodafone Idea repaid ₹1,701 crore to the department of telecommunications as an instalment to the 2022 spectrum auction. The telecom company bought 3300 MHz and 26 GHz 5G frequency bands worth ₹18,799 crore.  “We wish to inform that the company has today i.e. September 16, 2023, made the requisite payment of ₹1,701 crore to the Department of Telecommunications, Government of India, towards 2022 Spectrum Auction Installment, in accordance with the terms of Notice Inviting Applications dated 15^th June 2022,” according to the telecom company.

Following this, the share price of the company surged as much as 5.7% to hit a 52-week high of ₹12.40. However, the stock soon plunged 7.8% to hit an intraday low of ₹10.81. The scrip closed 6.82% lower at ₹10.93. At present, the share price of the debt-ridden telecom company is trading 11.8% lower than the 52-week high of ₹12.40. 

Shares of Vodafone Idea are trading 91.7% higher than the 52-week low of ₹5.7, which the company touched on March 31 this year. During the session, the company’s market capitalisation stood at ₹53,206.9 crore, with more than 959.17 lakh exchanging hands on the BSE as against the two-week average of 887.46 lakh shares.

In the April to June quarter of FY24, the company’s consolidated loss widened to ₹7,840 crore quarter-on-quarter as against ₹6,418.9 crore in the January to March quarter of FY24 owing to the loss in subscriber base. The company’s revenue from operations on a quarterly basis was up 1.2% at ₹10,655.5 crore in the June quarter as against ₹10,531.9 crore in the January to March quarter of FY23. The company’s EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) stood at ₹4,157 crore during the quarter under review, as against ₹4,210.3 crore in the March quarter of FY23.