Amidst controversies of an uncertain future, Vodafone Idea Ltd (VIL) has posted its biggest quarterly consolidated net loss of Rs 50,921.9 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, impacted mainly by Adjusted Gross Revenues (AGR) provisions. In the comparable year-ago quarter, the country’s second-largest operator by subscribers had posted a net loss of Rs 4,973.8 crore.

Vodafone Idea has provisioned Rs 25,677.9 crore for AGR payments, which is estimated to be about Rs 44,150 crore. This includes an estimated license fee of Rs 27,610 crore and Spectrum Usage Charges (SUC) of Rs 16,540 crore (with penalty and interest) for up to September 30, it said in a regulatory filing.

On the AGR issue, the company is in the process of filing a review petition before the apex court, it said.

“We are in active discussions with the Government seeking financial relief following the recent Supreme Court ruling,” VIL Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Ravinder Takkar said.

VIL also recorded depreciation charges of Rs 4,032 crore (disclosed as exceptional item) in Q2, following a revision of its business plans under which the firm is in the process of re-farming 3G spectrum to provide 4G services. The company also earmarked integration and merger costs of Rs 274.6 crore for the quarter.

During the quarter under review, the operator’s total income on a consolidated basis rose to Rs 11,146.4 crore from Rs 7,878.6 crore recorded during the same quarter of last year.

“We remain highly-focused on rapid network integration and 4G coverage and capacity expansion in our key markets. Data experience for our customers has significantly improved post consolidation and we now lead the league tables on 4G data download speeds in the circles of Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and in Sikkim and Chennai,” Takkar added.

VIL also revised its capex guidance for FY20 to Rs 13,000 crore from earlier Rs 17,000 crore, primarily on account of savings resulting from better pricing, disaggregation of components while ordering and reduction in planned 4G footprint in non-priority areas.

Further, lower-than-expected capacity requirement during the year has also resulted in capex deferral to FY21, it added. Ahead of the results announcement, Vodafone Idea shares closed down 20.27 per cent at Rs 2.95 on a steady BSE, which closed up 0.42 per cent on Thursday.

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