Shares of Vodafone Idea Ltd (VIL) saw a sharp upward move in Friday's trading session. The stock moved 11.60 per cent higher to hit a high of Rs 15.68 over its previous close of Rs 14.05. The scrip witnessed heavy volume today on BSE as around 48.01 crore shares were last seen changing hands. The figure was way more than the two-week average volume of 10.66 crore shares.
Turnover on the counter came at Rs 723.29 crore, commanding a market capitalisation (m-cap) of Rs 1,00,855.40 crore. There were 2,04,37,956 sell orders against buy orders of 7,39,84,959 shares.
Stock exchange BSE has asked for a clarification from the telecom operator with reference to a news report, titled "Ericsson India in talks with Vodafone Idea for a 5G deal."
VIL, in response, said we would like to submit that Ericsson India is one of the network vendor of the company. "Further, it is enlarging its footprints with 5G roll out and in connection with the same, the company is in discussions with various network vendors, including Ericsson, for supply of network gears for the 5G rollout. We wish to reiterate and clarify that the company will comply with SEBI Listing Regulations and duly keep the stock exchanges informed of all the information that is required to be reported," it stated.
Voda Idea's consolidated loss after tax widened to Rs 7,675 crore during the fourth quarter (Q4 FY24). The telco's consolidated revenue, however, rose 0.7 per cent on a year-on-year (YoY) basis to Rs 10,607 crore for the quarter ended on March 31, 2024.
Voda Idea's 4G subscriber base grew to 12.63 crore as on March 31, 2024, from 12.26 million a year ago. But its overall subscriber base fell about 6 per cent to 21.3 crore.
The telco's average revenue per user (ARPU), a key performance metric for telecom firms, rose to Rs 146 from Rs 135 a year earlier.
In a separate development, global brokerage UBS has upgraded the company's stock to 'Buy' from 'Neutral' and revised its target price to Rs 18 from Rs 13.10 earlier.
Recently, Voda Idea has successfully raised a total of Rs 18,000 crore from its follow-on offering (FPO). The telco is planning to roll out its 5G services in select areas. VIL CEO Akshaya Moondra said that the 5G rollout could cover 40 per cent of the company's overall revenue base in the next 24-30 months.
On technical setup, the counter traded higher than the 5-day, 10-, 20-, 30-, 50-, 100-, 150-day and 200-day simple moving averages (SMAs). The counter's 14-day relative strength index (RSI) came at 71.35. A level below 30 is defined as oversold while a value above 70 is considered overbought.
Vodafone Idea was formed in 2018 when Vodafone Group merged its India business with Idea Cellular. As of April 23, 2024, promoters held a 36.87 per cent stake in the company.