TIL Desk/Business/New Delhi/ The government has given an option to telcos to pay back interest on dues through equity and also conveyed that it has no interest in acquiring any telecom company, a top official of debt-ridden Vodafone Idea has said. Vodafone Idea Ltd (VIL) managing director and CEO Ravinder Takkar in an interview said it is clear that the government wants the company to compete in the market and there should be at least three private service providers in the telecom sector.
“I have had many many interactions across various parts of the government leading up to this announcement (telecom reforms).”In all my conversations, it is absolutely clear that the government has no interest in owning or acquiring or running any other telecom company,” Takkar said.
The government is already managing loss-making telecom firms BSNL and MTNL which are yet to post profit after a relief package of around Rs 69,000 crore granted to them in October 2019. Some experts contended that the government may end up holding a “sizable” chunk (estimates varied from 26 percent to majority stake) in VIL at the end of moratorium period, if the telco opts to pay cumulative interest or annual instalments by way of equity.
