Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, along with their industry body COAI have urged the govt to auction entire 1,200MHz of the 6GHz band exclusively for licensed mobile use.
In 2021, the government allowed telcos to convert interest on deferred spectrum payments and AGR dues into equity. This made it the single largest stakeholder in Vodafone Idea.
Vodafone said Kuiper's high-bandwidth, low-latency satellites would be useful in connecting remote mobile base stations to its core networks, without fibre-based wireless links.
Vodafone Idea has opted for the conversion of nearly Rs 16,000 crore interest on AGR and on spectrum installments into equity issuable to the government.
Among the country's three major telecom players, including Bharti Airtel and Jio, the govt package was seen as a bailout for Vodafone Idea, which was on the verge of bankruptcy.
The cute, little, egg-shaped white characters, who spoke a tongue no one understood, were launched in Vodafone commercials of 2009, during the 2nd IPL season, and fast became a popular icon.
A true revival of the Indian telecom sector will require an optimistic view of the future, which is a difficult ask given the industry’s chequered past.
No two bankruptcies are the same, but India’s processes for handling them have some common deficiencies. It’s still not too late to turn the bankruptcy regime into a real institution.
Retrospective taxes are just one facet of arbitrary state action. MNCs that have committed billions of dollars have many other legal minefields awaiting them.
Decision will end India’s dispute with Vodafone Plc and Cairn Energy Plc, and in 15 other similar cases. FM Sitharaman notes that the retrospective tax became a ‘sore point’ with investors.
This is the game every nation is now learning to play. Some are finding new allies or seeing value among nations where they’d seen marginal interest. The starkest example is India & Europe.
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