Telecom major Bharti Airtel is considering an offshore bond issue and is likely to raise up to $1 billion, two people aware of the matter told Economic Times.
As per the report, this comes as the telecom giant plans to refinance high cost debt, strengthen its balance sheet and also cover some of its 5G capital expenditure requirements.
The reports have also stated that the company is in talks with Barclays, Standard Chartered Bank and Citi in order to know the possibility of floating US dollar bonds in the overseas markets in one or more tranches this fiscal year.
Meanwhile, market analysts have said that Jio and Bharti Airtel together will have about 81 percent market share by adjusted revenue by FY25, making the competition for Vodafone Idea tougher in the coming quarters, pointing to the need for the No 3 carrier to launch 5G services at the earliest. “Vodafone Idea’s delayed 5G rollout could trigger further share consolidation with leading operators RJio and Bharti which are ramping up 5G services. The top two operators continue to dominate with combined 77 percent of sector revenue, which we expect will rise to 81 percent by FY25CL. We remain positive on RJio and Bharti,” analysts at CLSA said in a note.
Prior to that, as per data mentioned by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), Jio pipped Airtel in revenue market share (RMS) in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2023. Jio Infocmm’s gross revenue market share shot up by 13 basis points (bps) to 41.7 percent between January-March 2023 while Airtel’s RMS remained unchanged at 36.5 percent. Vodafone Idea (vi), the third private telco in the country, lost its RMS by 42 bps to 16.6 percent, the data showed.
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Updated: 17 Jun 2023, 10:21 AM IST