Bharti Airtel on Wednesday said its board will meet on August 29 to consider various fundraising options.
The company said in a regulatory filing that the various options to be considered by the board will be through equity or equity-linked or debt instruments or any combination thereof. However, the company did not disclose the quantum of fundraise under consideration.
The fundraise move by Bharti comes at a time when the telecom industry is reeling under financial stress and there are huge payment liabilities related to adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues.
Bharti Airtel MD and CEO Gopal Vittal has recently urged the government to provide some financial relief to the sector.
“We hope that the government does something to actually provide some relief to the industry. But even more important I think is that the Arpu (average revenue per user) can go up, then the industry repair will certainly happen…I would love to continue to see a three-player market, that would be appropriate outcome for a country as large as India,” Vittal said.
He pointed out that substantial investments have been made by the industry, and there are a lot of jobs, direct and indirect, and many parts of the ecosystem that depend on this industry.
Bharti and Vodafone Idea have already filed review petitions against a Supreme Court order that did not allow rectification of arithmetical errors in the calculation of their respective AGR dues.