Chief executive Abhijit Kishore said Vi remains “very confident” of securing ₹25,000 crore in funded debt and ₹10,000 crore in non-funded facilities from a consortium of domestic and foreign lenders. “We are deeply engaged…with SBI-led consortium, which forms part of the PSU (public sector undertaking) banks, the private banks, as well as the foreign banks, and we are confident of closing that very fast,” Kishore said on an earnings call on Monday.
ET BureauCapex push: Telco stays firm on `45k-cr network expansion plan, engaged with lenders, says exec
The company reiterated that its planned capex of ₹45,000 crore between FY27 and FY29 remains intact and said network investments will intensify further in the coming quarters. Vi incurred capex of ₹8,700 crore in FY26, down from ₹9,600 crore in the previous financial year. The company is targeting a double-digit revenue growth and three times its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) in three years.
“The worst is behind us,” Kishore said. “We enter FY27 with a clear strategy, improving operational momentum and growing confidence in the trajectory.”
Chief financial officer Tejas Mehta said Vi expects its cash Ebitda margin to expand from 20% currently to 35% over the next few years if the company delivers on its growth plans.
“As I think of the next three-four years, this has to absolutely increase… this will be north of 35%,” Mehta said while discussing the company’s long-term profitability ambitions.
Mehta also laid out Vi’s broad funding roadmap for the next three years, estimating total cash requirement of nearly ₹1 lakh crore including capex, spectrum payouts and debt servicing obligations. He said the company expects cumulative cash Ebitda of ₹60,000 crore between FY27 and FY29, along with debt funding, rolling bank facilities, income tax refunds and the recently announced promoter capital infusion, which should suffice for the company’s near-term ambitions.
The management said telco is seeing tangible benefits in circles where network investments have been prioritised, including Maharashtra, Gujarat and Kerala. As per Kishore, areas with heavier network rollout have witnessed significantly better customer acquisition, improved customer quality and stronger retention metrics. Vi said it increased coverage by 125 million over six quarters and expects to add 125 million as it deploys an additional 60,000-70,000 sites in 12-18 months.The company highlighted strong sequential growth in average revenue per user, which management attributed to increased data consumption, which went up 30%, improving network quality and 25% higher adoption of Vi’s unlimited data plan.
Vi believes it has significant headroom for ARPU expansion through feature phone-to-smartphone upgrades and 2G migration.