India’s Vodafone Idea shouldn’t be in talks to tie up with billionaire Elon Musk’s satellite tv for pc web firm Starlink, the telecom operator mentioned on Tuesday, dashing hopes of a revival in the debt-ridden firm that had despatched its inventory hovering.
The clarification got here after Vodafone Ideas’ inventory surged in the previous two periods on what enterprise journal BusinessWorld mentioned had been “markets betting” that Musk was trying to purchase a stake in the corporate to assist Starlink enter India.
“We would like to submit that the company is not in any such discussion with the named party. We are not aware of the basis of the said news item,” Vodafone Idea mentioned in a press release on Tuesday, a day after the Bombay Stock Exchange, the place its inventory is listed, requested for a clarification on the report.
The BusinessWorld report was revealed on Friday after Vodafone Idea’s shares surged 21 p.c. The inventory jumped one other 6 p.c on Monday, rounding out its busiest periods in about two years.
However, the inventory fell greater than 5 p.c in heavy buying and selling on Tuesday after the corporate’s clarification.
Starlink, Musk and SpaceX — Musk’s rocket firm that owns Starlink — didn’t instantly reply to Reuters’ requests for remark.
Vodafone Idea has not reported a revenue because it was shaped in 2018 — via the merger of UK-based Vodafone’s Indian unit with Aditya Birla Group’s Idea Cellular — because it loses subscribers to Bharti Airtel and Reliance Industries’ Jio.
Moreover, the Indian authorities owns roughly a 3rd of Vodafone Idea after it transformed into fairness all of the dues the corporate owed for utilizing airwaves and spectrum.
Vodafone Idea’s monetary woes make it an unattractive associate, mentioned Karan Taurani, an analyst with Elara Capital.
“On one end it is struggling to raise more cash and on the other end they have a large debt to service,” Taurani mentioned.
While Vodafone Idea doesn’t have a satellite tv for pc firm, Bharti-backed OneWeb and Reliance’s Jio Satellite Communications have regulatory clearance to function in India.
UK-based Vodafone has partnered with Starlink’s rival, Amazon.com’s Kuiper for web networks in Europe and Africa. Kuiper doesn’t function in India.
© Thomson Reuters 2023
