Vodafone Idea laid out plans to boost capex to better compete with rivals, planning to raise capital through issuing fresh equity by March 2022, The Economic Times (ET) reported.

The newspaper cited a report from banking group BNP Paribas which predicts an infusion of equity by the operator’s major shareholders Vodafone Group and Aditya Birla Group.

BNP Paribas issued its prediction following talks with Vodafone Idea CFO Akshaya Moondra and head of investor relations Arpit Gupt, ET wrote, adding the operator plans to increase annual capex four-fold to $2 billion.

Vodafone Idea’s capex in fiscal H1 2022 (the six months to end-September) declined 46 per cent year-on-year to INR22.4 billion ($296.7 million).

In fiscal 2021, the figure stood at INR41.5 billion compared with INR101.3 billion the previous year.

Vodafone Idea was given a lifeline by a government reform package in September.

GSMA Intelligence estimated its mobile subscribers at 244.1 million at end-September, compared with 410 million in 2018 when Vodafone and Idea Cellular merged.