Vodafone Idea (Vi) plans to invest ₹45,000 crore in its business over the next three years, targeting double-digit revenue growth, a threefold increase in cash EBITDA and sustained subscriber additions during the period.
Following AGR relief from the Centre, Vi is set to move from “survival to strength” with additional investments, taking total planned capital infusion to over ₹60,000 crore, said Abhijit Kishore, CEO of Vi, during the company’s latest earnings call.
On the funding structure, Kishore said the company is exploring ₹25,000 crore in bank funding and ₹10,000 crore through a non-funded facility, with no plans for equity infusion at this stage.
Investment split
The investments will be directed towards network expansion to regain parity with competitors in 17 priority markets, conversion of 2G sites to 4G in five other circles, and achieving 100 per cent coverage across national highways, key state highways and airports over the next 12–24 months. The company also plans to roll out 5G across urban markets, expand satcom coverage to remote, rural, maritime and border regions, and use fixed wireless access (FWA) to enter the SOHO and home broadband segments.
“We definitely want to get into the SOHO and the home space, which we are not present in right now. We are looking at some opportunity as to getting an entry into a a small office, or home office is concerned,” Kishore said, adding that investments will be front-loaded over the first two years.
Earlier, the government had frozen Vi’s AGR dues at ₹87,695 crore and extended the payment schedule from FY2031–32 to FY2040–41, while calling for a reassessment of the dues. While the company did not quantify the impact, it said the pace of reassessment at various levels has been extremely encouraging.
Acknowledging Vi’s declining market share, Kishore said the immediate focus would be on arresting the slide, followed by a return to growth.
EBITDA growth
On the drivers of EBITDA growth, the company said it expects a 60:40 split in favour of customer additions over ARPU improvement, including benefits from tariff hikes.
On costs, Vi said it is deploying AI-led solutions to reduce expenses, particularly on the IT side, with machines increasingly replacing manual processes. Employee attrition has declined from 16.8 per cent in FY24 to 14.2 per cent year-to-date in FY26.
Describing the AGR moratorium as a definitive, long-term solution with clear cash-flow visibility, Kishore said the worst is over for the company. On competitors’ response to Vi’s renewed strategy, he said, “They should welcome us with open arms. They have been having a duopoly. We are a very formidable, strong promoter backed organization with extremely good, excellent execution capability which was only not able to perform because of the AGR overhang. We are absolutely in the market to give them a tough competition.”
Promoter confidence
The earnings call was also attended by Sushil Agarwal, Group Chief Financial Officer at promoter Aditya Birla Group, who said the promoters remain positive on Vi and will extend support if required. Earlier in the day, Aditya Birla Group Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla praised Vi’s progress, calling it a testament to his belief that “Tough Times Don’t Last. Tough Companies Do.”
Published on January 28, 2026
