Vodafone Exits Indus Towers, Timeline of Indus Towers

As expected Vodafone Group (UK) has sold its last shares of Indus Towers and exited Indian tower business completely by multi year phased manner. The last 3% worth of 79.2 million shares in Indus was held by Vodafone's indirect wholly-owned subsidiaries, Omega Telecom Holdings Pvt Ltd and Usha Martin Telematics Limited. The valuation was Rs 2,800 cr which would be reinvested in Vodafone-Idea's joint telecom venture Vi or to pay the bank loans, network expansion projects, government dues.

In June 2024, Vodafone sold of its 15% share in Indus Towers. 

Official site of Indus Towers Ltd, now notes as Indus Towers Ltd was founded by amalgamation of Indus Towers and Bharti Infratel. But we know Indus Towers was formed by the three incumbent telecom operators of India - Airtel, Vodafone and Idea in November 2007. That time Indus was the largest tower co in the world (outside China) and till September of 2024 Indus enjoyed the title as Brookfield (who bought Jio Infratel and ATC India) based Altius became the largest tower company in the world. 

Tejas Will Supply Backhaul Equipment to Vi to Increase Network Capacity

Though Tata Group left the mainstream telecom market, it seems the company prefers to stay behind the curtain as Tata-backed companies continue to grab telecom contracts in the country. 

Tata-backed TCS & Tejas Networks are integral part of state owned BSNL's 4G rollout, and future's 5G roll out, infact BSNL's 5G ready 4G core is completely developed indigenously. Now Tejas grabbed a three-year contract from country's third largest telco - Vi to supply backhaul equipment for upgraded 4G network & upcoming 5G network. Back in 2021 Airtel also deployed equipment from Tejas to increase optical capacities in major metro areas.

Smaller Passive Infrastructure Providers Reshaping Indian Telecom

Despite the tower companies of India are going through several merger and acquisition, there are some new companies entered in the market - Suyog Telematics Ltd., Signotox Towers Pvt. Ltd., Pratap Technocrats, SAR Televentures, CloudExtel etc.

These companies are looking into new verticals of tower industries for generating revenues from telecom service providers. Innovative solutions from these companies can be cost-effective and energy-efficient. 

Report by Avendus predicts that in next 5 years capital expenditure in the digital infra space might go up to $35-50 billion. They also noted four major trends to drive this expenditure are: in-building solutions (IBS), outdoor small cells (ODSC), data centres (DCs), and fibre networks.

Revival of BSNL, deployment of 4G and 5G tech in their network and Vi's plans to expand 4G and enter into 5G space are also good news for these newcomers despite the presence of big companies like Altius (2.75L towers) and Indus Towers (2.5L towers) and mid-level players like GTL Infrastructure with 26,000 towers and Ascend Telecom with around 18,600 towers.

Vi Targets to Bring 5G in 17 Circles in Next 5 Months

Global telecom firm Vodafone and Aditya Birla Group backed Vi (Vodafone Idea Ltd) is getting ready for 5G launch, as they had recently partnered with Ericsson, Nokia and Samsung for 4G expansion, upgradation and 5G deployment. 

While Airtel and Jio rolled out 5G in October 2022, Vi with its financial struggles is yet to enter 5G space. Though Vi had several trials of 5G with multiple vendors. In February 2023, the Indian government converted debt-ridden Vi’s dues into equity, which made GoI to own 33.5% stake of Vi, as the single largest shareholder** . After that some rumors came that BSNL may merge with Vi or BSNL may use Vi's 4G network - however those did not happen, thankfully. 

Vi Awards Next Phase 4G Expansion and 5G Deployment to Ericsson, Nokia and Samsung

Vi, the telecom JV between UK’s Vodafone and India’s Aditya Birla Group and the 3rd private telco of India has chose South Korean Samsung, Finland's Nokia and Sweden's Ericsson for 4G expansion and 5G rollout in certain circles for next 3 years for $3.6 billion. This is probably first time Vi cut deals with Samsung for network equipment, while Nokia and Ericsson being Vi's long term partner. With these deals, Vi is replacing Chinese vendors (Huawei and ZTE) on its networks.

In the deal worth Rs 13,500 crore, Nokia will replace the previous vendor (mostly Huawei) in Chennai/Tamil Nadu and Andra Pradesh where Vi generated more than 50% of revenue. Apart from these 2 key circles, Nokia will deploy its equipment in Mumbai, Gujarat, Haryana, UP-East, UP-West, West Bengal and Kolkata. It's a big blow to Huawei, and ensures growth for European vendors. Ericsson will deliver equipment 10 circles - Delhi, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, J&K, Odisha, Maharashtra, Northeast, Assam, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh and Samsung will supply to 3 circles - Karnataka, Punjab and Bihar. 

Jio vs Airtel vs Vi - LTE/4G Speed Comparison !

After the amalgamation of Vodafone India and Idea Telecom, a new brand identity emerged in the Indian telecom scenario - Vi (pronounced as we). However analysts believe the new company, though incumbent in terms of operation is way far behind the top two - Jio and Airtel. 

But that does not mean Vi is not offering good services, they are changing their core strategy as per the market needs. Well the change is inevitable, and in the COVID situation it demands more innovation. Moreover globally big telecom players are repositioning them as a digital platform along with good digital services as backbone. 

Vi is not an exception. They are promoting their 4G services as GIGAnet, and many circles they are promoting their 4G services as 'India's fastest 4G'. Well that's not a completely wrong, as Vi 4G network is quite underutilized compared to Jio and Airtel, as Vi lost huge number of subscribers. 

Vodafone Idea Unveils New Brand Identity - 'Vi'

Vodafone Idea Ltd, the merged entity of Vodafone India and Idea Cellular has announced a new brand identity, Vi (pronounced as We). The announcement came after the company got relief by Supreme Court order to pay AGR dues in next 10 years. 

Vodafone Group CEO Nick Read said, "As the integration of two businesses is now complete, it’s time for a fresh start. That's why we believe that now is the perfect time to launch Vi, one company which provides the strength of Vodafone India and Idea.” It should be noted that merger was done in 2018, midst of market consolidation due to predator pricing by Reliance Jio. 

There was some recent market rumor that US tele major Verizon or e-Commerce giant Amazon may look for stake buy in VIL, but the company denied such reports. However the company has approved Rs 25,000 cr fundraising plan. Analysts believe it's not a plan for a long run, may be just for 12-18 months, as the company is debt ridden of nearly Rs 1.7 lakh crore.