Weeks after Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries’ Jio secured more than $10 billion in investment from
Facebook and private equity groups, internet giant
Google is exploring an investment in
Vodafone Idea, reported Financial Times. The move could potentially pit the US internet group in a battle against Facebook for the world’s fastest-growing mobile market.
One of the people familiar with the matter said, Google was considering buying stake of about 5 per cent in Vodafone Idea, a partnership between the UK telecoms company and India's Aditya Birla Group that has been under severe financial strain.
For Vodafone Idea — the product of a 2018 merger between Vodafone and Birla's Idea — an investment by Google could boost the likelihood of its survival. Its future has been uncertain since India’s Supreme Court ruled in October that it owed billions of dollars in retrospective fees, prompting Birla to state it might “shut shop” altogether.
Vodafone Idea has Rs 58,254 crore as AGR dues of which it has already paid Rs. 6,854 crores to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) in three tranches last month, or its full principal dues as per its self-assessment.
Even as India’s two-month
coronavirus lockdown upends economic activity, many of these users are consuming more mobile data than ever before and turning to services such as digital payments and online shopping in increasing numbers. But US companies have faced competition from Chinese investors.