New Delhi, April 3 -- In the telecom sector, there are certain regulatory payments that an operator has to make to the government. These are for spectrum usage (pre-2022), licence fee as percentage of their adjusted gross revenue, and spectrum purchase. In Vi's case, this is the second time the government has converted part of the dues into equity. Vi, which otherwise would have had to pay the dues in cash, has now given it equity shares (49%) to settle part of it. The operator is in financial distress and needs government support to survive. The government can sell those shares when it wants.

As of December 2024, Vi's total debt was around Rs.2.3 trillion. Of this, Rs.77,000 crore was AGR (adjusted gross revenue) liability and Rs.1.4 tr...