A very warm welcome to all participants to this earnings call. Yesterday, our Board of Directors adopted the unaudited results for the quarter ending December 31, 2024. All the results related documents are available on our website, and I hope you had a chance to go through the same. Let me provide key highlights for the quarter, progress on our investment, and the positive impact of the same, and insights on our strategic initiatives. For this, I'll hand over to Murthy to share details on the company's financial performance. Before I move on to company specific performance, let me share some thoughts on the Indian telecom market and growth opportunities. Telecom in India has achieved widespread reach with 4G population coverage at almost 99%, and 5G extension also moving at a fast pace. The demand for connectivity is surging across demographics, driven by diverse income groups, age segments, and evolving customer behavior.
Technological investments' advancements continue to reshape usage patterns, fueling the need for high-speed data and digital services. Between November 2023 and November 2024, the wireless broadband subscriber base grew by about 45 million, reflecting 5% growth. However, despite this impressive growth, overall broadband penetration remains below 65%, representing a significant opportunity for further growth with higher adoption of broadband services. The private mobile operators took a tariff hike in July 2024 after more than two years since last price increase, leading to improvements in ARPU and revenue. However, despite these gains, the industry's ROC continues to remain low. Further, the telecom sector requires significant investments to support emerging technology and the rapid increase in data consumption. Therefore, further tariff increase is necessary to help the industry recover its cost of capital and sustain future growth.
To maintain affordability and ensure connectivity for all, a pricing model where heavy data users contribute more for higher usage is optimal for the industry. Let me also give an update on the bank guarantee waiver. In December 2024, the Department of Telecommunications extended its support to the telecom industry by dispensing with the requirement of bank guarantee to be submitted for spectrum auctions held prior to the 2021 reform package with certain conditions. Prior to this reform, BGs aggregating to INR 247.5 billion were required to be provided by the company for respective spectrum installments 13 months prior to each installment falling due. As for the communication received from DoT, no BG required to be provided for the auctions until 2021, except requirement to provide BG for one year for one-time partial shortfall for the 2015 auction, for which we are in discussion with the DoT.
Let me now talk about our strategic initiatives. Our first strategic initiative is our focused investment approach. Post-fundraise, our CAPEX investments are gathering significant momentum. For Q3 FY25, we invested INR 32.1 billion, which is more than what we did in the first two quarters combined, bringing the total CAPEX for the first nine months of FY25 to INR 53.3 billion. The pace of network rollout is set to accelerate further, with the full-year CAPEX expected to be around INR 100 billion. During this quarter, we made substantial strides in expanding our network footprint, adding over 4,000 unique broadband towers to the largest quarterly addition since our merger. Our network enhancement efforts included the deployment of 4G on the sub-GHz 900 MHz band across approximately 15,000 sites, improving both coverage and indoor network experience.
We also expanded our network capacity by adding approximately 10,400 sites in the 1,800 MHz and 2,100 MHz band, which has resulted in faster data speeds of nearly 28%. We are enhancing our infrastructure by deploying high-powered small cells to tackle coverage and capacity challenges in congested areas. These ultra-lean full-site designs for minimal tech deployment and single operator use are optimized for efficiency with lower operational costs. As of December 31, 2024, our total broadband site count stood at approximately 460,300, which includes about 74,800 TDD sites, 13,950 Massive MIMO sites, and 12,800 small cells. Moreover, we expanded our 4G 900 presence in all 16 priority circles where we have this spectrum. With our investments done so far in the first nine months of this financial year, we have added 6,900 broadband towers, including HPSC sites, out of which 5,000 towers were added in this quarter.
I must remind you that this is just the start of our larger investment cycle. We plan to take 4G count to approximately 215,000-220,000. That is an increase of over 45,000 4G towers since the start of this investment cycle. Our immediate plan is to add another 13,000 towers till the middle of next quarter, that is Q1. In the last nine months, we expanded our 4G population coverage by 41 million, reaching a total of 1.07 billion by the end of December 2024, and covering 80% of the population, up from 1.03 billion in March 2024. During this period, our 4G data capacity grew by around 24%, which contributed to an improvement of nearly 28% in 4G speeds.
We are on track to meet our 4G population coverage target of 1.1 billion by March 2025, that is, further expand population coverage by 30 million in just three months. Our plan is to finally take it to 1.2 billion, that is, 90% population coverage. With these initial investments, which have resulted in higher coverage and better experience for customers in already covered areas, we are witnessing green shoots. I'm pleased to inform all of you that the combined VLR subscriber numbers for December and January are showing positive metrics in 11 Circles. We are confident that these trends will improve further as the pace of CAPEX investment increases. Further, the progressive launch of 5G services should improve the subscriber traction. The early result of our network investment is reflected in the latest Opensignal report, where we emerged as the best 4G network in India.
We led across all six experience categories for 4G users: best download speeds, best upload speeds, best video experience, best live video experience, best games experience, and best voice app experience. This recognition highlights that our users enjoyed not only the fastest 4G speeds, but also an overall superior quality of experience for various online activities, including video streaming, gaming, and voice app calling. We are confident that as we roll out our 5G network, we will deliver the same superior quality. Building on our extensive network expansion and upgrades, we launched one of India's most hyper-local marketing campaigns to raise consumer awareness of the significant improvements in network experience. The campaign focused on showcasing local success stories and emphasizing how our network has become our best-selling network at the city, district, and locality levels.
Moving on to market initiatives, tariff increase implemented in July has contributed to growth in both ARPU and overall revenue. Most impact from this price hike is reflected in Q2 and Q3 FY25. As I mentioned in the last earnings call, alongside blended ARPU, we are also sharing a separate KPI, that is, customer ARPU excluding M2M, which provides a clearer trend of mobility business. Customer ARPU excluding M2M has shown a quarter-on-quarter increase of 4.7%, and it has increased by almost 13% with Q1 ARPU. Strategic initiatives were taken to reinforce market positions through new offerings aligned with consumer preferences in the prepaid segment. The Super Hero offering launched in our 12 key markets provides unlimited data for 12 hours from 12:00 A.M. to 12:00 P.M., in addition to the 2 GB daily quota, which is now available to be used in the remaining 12 hours.
The non-stop SuperHero offering launched in remaining 10 markets provides unlimited data 24 by 7. As data consumption continues to grow, especially for consumers without wide broadband access, these propositions aim to enable a worry-free data experience. In the postpaid business, we continue to see improving performance. It is a key focus area for us, and as highlighted in the last quarter, we continue to see an increase in our postpaid base on quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year basis. While a larger part of this increase is from the enterprise segment, we have seen a continuous increase in postpaid consumers over the last one year. We are providing an optimum range of feature-rich offerings to meet the diverse needs of postpaid customers. Recently, we launched Easy+, a new innovative proposition for corporate postpaid plans.
It offers subscribers an option to select and directly buy additional services like international roaming, OTT subscription, and data packs for their personal needs on their existing corporate plans. This service is available on the Vi App. This first-of-its-kind proposition introduces a simplified approach by making it seamless for subscribers to digitally purchase services of their choice on their corporate postpaid plans, thus offering complete flexibility and enhancing the overall customer experience. We also introduced a new Vi Movies & TV Super Pack at INR 175, combining data benefits with seamless access to high-quality digital entertainment. With this pack, our prepaid subscribers can access 15 plus OTT platforms, including Sony LIV, ZEE5, ManoramaMAX, FanCode, Playflix, and more, along with 10 GB data. We continue to strengthen our international roaming business by expanding our roaming packs into new markets, adding 10 more countries in the last quarter alone.
Today, our roaming packs are available in over 130 countries worldwide. Notably, we remain the only operator offering unlimited data and calls in as many as 29 countries. During the quarter, we extended our 'Be Someone's We ' campaign to bring people closer and make them feel connected from wherever they may be. We engaged with the younger audiences through the podcast ' Be A Parent, Yaar! Powered by Yuvaa ' where the central theme of ' Be Someone's We ' was woven into conversations between celebrities and their parents. The interaction with youth was further enhanced through Snapchat with the introduction of the ' Be Someone's We ' lens. We have launched an AI and machine learning-powered spam management solution to protect users from unsolicited and fraudulent messages.
With spam messages on the rise, which are often used as gateways to fraud, Vi Spam SMS solution will safeguard customers by identifying and managing unsolicited and potentially harmful texts in real time. As part of our broader commitment to customer safety and experience, we are continuously working to develop solutions to curb spam, including voice calls, to ensure that users are further protected from unsolicited calls. These measures are in addition to various existing solutions and practices, including making the mobile app URL simple to use for filling spam complaints by enabling automatic pickup of spam content, sender number, and date, as well as whitelisting URLs in brand messages. The spam detection system continuously analyzes SMS messages in real time, using machine learning to identify patterns, recognize suspicious links, and tag potential spam as suspected spam. As the system evolves, it adapts to new spam trends, improving accuracy and effectiveness.
We are also committed to educating customers and empowering them to identify and report phishing attempts, ensuring a secure mobile experience by proactively sharing important security tips and related information. These strategic launches and initiatives reflect our commitment to staying ahead of the curve by understanding and addressing customer needs while driving market innovation. Moving on to business services, we are transforming from a telecom company into a technology-driven enterprise, expanding beyond connectivity to offer advanced solutions like SD-WAN, IoT, and cloud services. Supported by Vodafone Group's expertise, we continue to grow through strategic partnerships and expanded service portfolio. Vi Business received several accolades recently. Its ' Ready For Next ' campaign for MSMEs was awarded the Bronze category by ET Brand Equity DigiPlus. Additionally, the Vi Business Assist platform was recognized as Best New Product Launch at the Fifth Silver Feather Awards.
We also got recognized as Leading Brand in Telecom Sector at the ET Brand Equity Awards. The next strategic initiative is driving partnerships and digital revenue streams. As highlighted before, we aim to be a truly integrated digital services provider with a very clear objective of driving higher digital engagement with our consumers and driving monetization through specific streams or by participating in select digital categories. Our stated strategy around this has been to build this through strategic partnerships and bring out most of these offerings on the Vi App. Vi App is a multi-utility app that offers not just end-to-end telco account management, but also allows consumers to play over 100 games, participate in eSports tournaments, pay utility bills, shop across categories like entertainment, food, shopping, and travel, or buy almost any OTT subscription and watch over 350 TV channels and more.
It is our constant endeavor to elevate the experience that our app offers to our consumers. We recently enabled the Vi App to be used for recharge by all prepaid users, even when their data limit gets over, to ensure that they can recharge without delay when needed. We have also enabled UPI Autopay for all our prepaid customers to make it convenient so that their services are not disrupted in case they miss their expiry date. It is initiatives like these which are helping us grow engagement on Vi App, and it is showing in consistently improving Vi App ratings on Play Store. As I mentioned in the previous earnings call, we have launched Vi Movies & TV in an all-new avatar for mobile on both Android and iOS, as well as for TV across major operating systems.
It is an offering mainly for connected TV, wherein our subscribers can buy a subscription plan to get access to most of their favorite OTTs like Disney+ Hotstar, Sony LIV, ZEE5, Sun NXT, just like the way customers buy DTH plans for TV channels. During the quarter, we partnered with Lionsgate Play, a premium streaming service for Vi Movies & TV app, and bundling of Vi Movies & TV with our flagship postpaid plans to offer higher value to our subscribers. Additionally, we have also introduced First Episode Free feature for all original content on ZEE5, enabling subscribers to make an informed decision before subscribing. We have a very strong roadmap to build Vi Movies & TV as a destination of choice for our consumers when it comes to their TV entertainment.
I would like to reiterate that we will continue to have a disproportionate focus to build a digital ecosystem with our partners, enabling a differentiated experience for Vi users, which will help us drive customer stickiness as well as provide increments in monetization of watch time. Moving on to the other important topic of debt raise, we remain actively engaged with our lenders for tying up debt funding towards the execution of our long-term network expansion. The recent support from government on bank guarantee has supported these discussions to move forward. Additionally, we have cash and bank balance of INR 120.9 billion to be used for ongoing payables. With that, I hand over to Murthy, who will share the financial highlights for the quarter.
Thank you, Akshaya. A warm welcome to each of you. The revenues for the quarter were INR 111.2 billion, a year-on-year growth of 4.2%.
The EBITDA excluding Ind AS 116 effects for the quarter was INR 24.5 billion, improving by 15% on a YoY basis. This is the highest quarterly EBITDA since merger, and the margin has improved to 22%. The reported EBITDA, excluding Ind AS 116 effects, was INR 47.1 billion, as compared to INR 43.5 billion in quarter 3 of FY24, a YOY growth of 8.3%. The reported EBITDA margin improved to 42.4%. Further, the depreciation and amortization expenses and net finance costs for the quarter were INR 56.3 billion and INR 56.9 billion, respectively. Excluding the impact of Ind AS 116, the depreciation and amortization expenses and net finance costs for the quarter were INR 41.6 billion and INR 47.5 billion, respectively.
The finance cost for this quarter has declined in comparison to last quarter, mainly due to the reversal of interest provisions based on certain agreements that we have arrived at with some vendors and also due to some foreign exchange deals. The net loss for this quarter was INR 66.1 billion. The debt from the banks has reduced by INR 52.9 billion during the last one year and is currently at INR 23.3 billion at the end of quarter 3 of FY25 versus INR 76.2 billion in quarter 3 of FY24. The cash and bank balance comprising mainly of FPO proceeds to be used for CAPEX objectives is INR 120.9 billion as of December 31, 2024. With this, I hand over the call to Nirav and open the floor for questions.
Thank you very much. We will now begin with the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on the touchscreen telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. Participants, you may press star and one to ask a question. The first question is from the line of Vivekanand from Ambit Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi. Thank you so much for the opportunity. So the first question is on the response to your network expansion so far. Thanks, Akshaya, for highlighting some markers there, the VLR trends and service circle. So to understand this better, as you are expanding the network, is that helping you in reducing churn, which is currently from when customers upgrade from 2G to 4G, lose those customers?
Is that how it is playing out, or are you also able to strengthen your gross adds? Because when I look at the 3Q data, it seems like your gross adds don't seem to have changed much. In fact, they seem to be flat over the last one year. So help us understand that one point first. And the second question is on the tariffs. Now that the tariff hike impact is in the numbers, when do you think is the right time for the industry to consider one more tariff hike, and how should one think about the tariff structure here on when the next tariff hike comes? Thank you.
Okay, thanks, Vivek, for your question. Your first question is relating to network expansion. And can you just repeat what exactly was the question relating to network expansion?
So when you did this network expansion, you said that VLR has improved. You said that the gross adds have not increased. Okay. Churn may have come down, but no effect on gross adds. Is that how it's playing out, or how?
Yeah, that's right. I mean, the gross adds figure is quite evident. So ultimately, if there is any improvement in subscriber metrics without any change in the gross adds trajectory, then it has to come from the improvement in retention of the subscribers or better quality of subscribers, which has been our focus for the last few months. The quality of acquisition and whatever can be done in that direction has been a focus area for us.
I think I would also want to highlight here that in terms of gross adds, in terms of our share of gross adds, it is much above our customer market share. So that is an area where we are already doing well. We are able to attract customers. Our challenge has been sometimes to retain them because of the lack of investment, which we have seen for a fairly long period of time. But as we return back to investment, then I would like to emphasize that what we have seen until now is just the beginning of the larger investment that we have. Only with the investment which has been incurred, and actually, if you look at the results in December, January, only probably the rollout under November and part of December would have any significant impact, which is only 10% of our new rollout of sites.
So really speaking, the larger investment has still to happen, but even with this minimal investment and with a fairly wider communication to our customers about the steps we are taking to improve the network, the pace at which we are rolling out, we have started to see early green shoots, which is reflected in the VLR for December and January combined becoming positive in 11 Circles, which is a major, major improvement. And I would say we believe as the pace gathers and as the small investment becomes more formidable, and then we are doing this larger investment, definitely these trends will improve for the better. We are very confident about this. Your second question was relating to tariffs. To see it like this, in a normal scenario, I would have said that a time gap of one year is ideal between two tariff increases.
However, I would add to that that given the place where the telecom industry in India is today, where the return on capital is, whether you take the market leader or you take anyone else, nobody is returning their cost of capital. In that scenario, I would say it is fairly justified if it can be faster. It could be nine months also, I would say. In a normal situation, a 12-month period is ideal to kind of make any changes on tariffs. Given where the industry is today, a faster tariff change is probably a possibility and the need of the.
Okay, that's helpful. You don't think that the recent regulatory comments on making the voice-only plan more affordable would come in the way of another tariff repair initiative, right?
No, no. I think this is what I guess I've been saying for the last two, three years, that we have moved to a pricing structure where marginal users pay a certain price, and then the incremental price, which people who use heavily is very low, which is not a structure in any industry generally. So I think it is important that while maintaining the affordability, which has come through the voice and text plans in a manner, we try to say that the people who are using or the consumers who are using more should actually be paying more. I'm not saying that there should not be any benefit if people pay more. Their per unit of consumption or per GB of consumption should be charged less. The concept of telescopic pricing is there in all products and services. However, I think in telecom in India today is very accentuated.
And so I keep repeating this that we used to have an ARPU, which were, let's say, maybe INR 10-INR 20 to a range of INR 5,000 for many normal consumers without international roaming. Today, almost everybody can fulfill their requirements by buying a plan of INR 400, INR 500 if you choose to be on prepaid. That is what needs to be addressed. So I don't think the voice and text plans would come in the way of achieving the objective of tariff increase and tariff rationalization. Okay. I'll take up one last topic, which is very important for investors. That's on the next 12 months, including the time that after the moratorium when you had to start making payments for spectrum dues and AGR dues that were not deferred.
The question here is, one, what is your dialogue with the government, given that it's now less than a year that you will have to perhaps engage with them and convince them or get them to take shareholding in lieu of the deferred amounts? And secondly, the regular installment also is a fairly large number. So if you could walk us through how you are thinking about, let's say, the next 12 to 15 months in terms of cash in and cash out in the company, that would be great.
Vivek, let me put it this way. As we have been saying that post the dismissal of the curative petition, where the judicial route was closed, we have been actively engaged with the Government to find a solution. As far as conversion is concerned, it is a part of the reforms package.
While I understand it is at the government's option, but the fact that in the reforms package in 2021, it was provided that the conversion could be done at the government's option after the moratorium of a period of four years, that clearly shows the intent that the Government has provided that in the reform package to support the industry where this need arises. I think that conversion is a part of the reforms package, and that should not be a difficulty in the initial period when we are kind of making the investment and improving our cash generation through improvement in performance. In terms of what we were seeking through the curative petition as correction of some of the demands, which should have brought these liabilities down, that has not worked. We are having a bit of a holistic engagement with the government.
I think when we are talking about conversion, generally, it is not necessary that it is only the deferred installments which can be converted. I think the non-deferred installments are also part of that. So I think it is difficult to kind of say what will finally happen, but I would say that the Government is very cognizant of the fact that support is required at this time. They have also seen that the average equity of 26,000 crores gross overall through promoters, FPO, vendors converting some of their dues in the last 10 months or so. And we have made the investment. We have started the investment cycle. We are seeing positive results coming out of that. And Government is actually the largest stakeholder in this entire exercise. So they are cognizant of this fact, and I am confident that they will find a solution.
Okay, Akshaya. Thank you so much for the elaborate answers. I'll come back in the queue for more.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Sanjesh Jain from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Good afternoon, Akshaya. First question on the network operating costs. Now that we are scaling up the network, this quarter, it really didn't show that. I believe we did a lot of investment with the fag end. How should we look at network costs going up from here in the next few quarters as we expand the network?
So I would say, and if Murthy wants to add anything, he can add. Basically, you should look at that, generally speaking, as you roll out a new site, the cost, it varies from circle to circle, but a new site, energy cost plus rental is in the ballpark of INR 60,000- 70,000 per month.
And if you then look, there are lean sites today where the cost structure is much lesser. So really speaking, the growth of network costs is directly proportional to the number of sites that one rolls out. So that can be fairly easily calculated, number of sites multiplied by, even if you take it a little on the higher side, that some of the marginal costs may go up. Somewhere around INR 70,000 per site is generally the cost increase, which is linear. I've already in my opening remarks alluded to as to what is it that we have rolled out and what is it that we are planning to roll out by middle of next quarter. So that should give you a fair idea. I think one of the factors which also happens in this cost is that the energy costs are generally lower in this quarter.
So some of the costs attributable to the higher cost on account of rollout may have been offset by the saving in energy costs also. Murthy, do you want to add something?
No, not really. So Sanjesh, I think typically you should look at the seasonality in consumption, the way we have been in the industry has been showing it in particular for different quarters and for the growth in sites that are coming in. Obviously, I think Akshaya has told you the kind of cost that we'll incur. That's on a cash basis. On a lease accounting basis, obviously, that'd be slightly different.
Accordingly, as we have always said, that in the first few quarters where there's a large site of, I mean, large count of sites coming up, the costs below it are maybe slightly higher than what it will be and leave it out over the period.
Yeah. Just to clarify that on my comments were based on cash accounting basis, not on index, which Murthy has explained.
No, no, that's clear. That's clear. On the 5G expansion, when should we start that? Will we be starting in next quarter or two quarters down the line? When are we thinking to roll out 5G and the Circles that will be priority for that?
And Sanjesh, it looks like you have not seen us quite really clearly. We have clearly stated there that Mumbai launch is slated for March a nd Delhi, Bangalore, Chandigarh, and Patna are slated for April.
So that is something which is already stated in our press release. So we've started this. I think the site rollout is already progressing in Mumbai and Delhi. It's just that you need to get to some kind of a threshold before kind of doing a commercial launch. That is what we are waiting for. So this is already progressing. The launch has started. I think in terms of the other Circles, and I mean, the priority would generally follow the priority Circles. We said that Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru were the three metros which have to be covered first. And of course, then we move on to the other important cities and where we have a strong position like Gujarat, Maharashtra, Kerala. So those would be the ones next in line, which we will give guidance, I think, somewhere by the time of the next earnings call.
Very clear. Thanks, Akshay. And then last question on the ARPU's side. Now that the tariff increase is seen then for next year, assuming there is no tariff hike, how do we see this ARPU growing, say, by premiumization? And our postpaid is growing faster than the prepaid. At least postpaid has right now, we are in a positive territory. How do we see ARPU growing organically without tariff hike?
So one thing, as was discussed in the last question also, that if we are talking about a full year's time, then I think, as I said, 9 to 12 months is a time window for a tariff increase. And I would expect that next year's ARPU growth will also be impacted by a tariff increase, which should happen. So I think that is one. But then what are the other drivers of ARPU increase besides the tariff correction?
So I think, as will happen in our cases, that as our network kind of with the investment, it starts improving. I would say we today will probably have maybe besides the growth of subscribers, which may not impact the ARPU, but there could be multiple secondary SIMs, which if converted to primary SIMs, will result in improvement in ARPU. So that is there. And I mean, these could be significant because if a subscriber is being counted, but it is not a primary SIM for them, they recharge infrequently. That kind of reduces the ARPU. But if they become the primary SIM and it recharges regularly, then the ARPU goes up. And I would say in terms of the delta of ARPU for those subscribers, it can be significant. The others are upgrade of subscribers to higher plans.
We are also kind of bundling this with many of the packs, particularly in the postpaid, but those choices are also available in prepaid. So upgrade of subscribers, more bundled offerings, providing higher value products. And as I said earlier, as far as the price increase, as far as the industry, I would actually want to see the price increase going up somewhat in line with the consumption. And I think that could be another way to say that the RPUs will go up.
Got it. Got it. One last bookkeeping question. Can you give the breakup of gross debt between the spectrum dues, AGR dues?
Sorry, what is the breakup between?
So Sanjesh, I think okay. So I think the AGR dues roughly are in the range of about 70,000 crores. And as for spectrum dues, it is about a lakh and 40,000 crores.
Got it. Got it. And the gross debt is?
So this is not a debt. This is a deferred payment obligation. So the only debt I have is to the banks, which is about INR 2,300 crores as we stand at end of December.
Okay. That's the bank borrowing what you're talking about.
That's right. Yeah.
Got it. Got it. That's it from my side. Thanks for answering those questions. And that's the first question.
Thanks, Sanjesh.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Gaurav Malhotra from Axis Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi. Thank you for the opportunity. Just had one question. If I just look at the overall OPEX on a Q-on-Q basis, and I see it even on a year-wise number, not really moved up, but obviously there is CAPEX being done. We also see marketing activity has sort of started to move up again.
So just wondering when will the sort of OPEX sort of start following the kind of move which we are seeing in CAPEX and also maybe the kind of marketing activity which is happening on the ground?
So while Murthy will give you a specific response, but I think when you look at the clarity here, and if you say that network is growing and the costs have not increased, I think it is also a factor of many other efforts and initiatives we are taking to kind of bring down the costs and contain the costs. Normally, we do not talk very much about it, and maybe since the rollout has been minimal at this point of time, the initiatives taken otherwise are offsetting to some extent the cost increase.
So I would say that is a point about cost management while we are kind of looking and investing now. We have also been very focused on costs, and that is an exercise which will continue. But if Murthy wants to give any specific response as well.
No. So I mean, if you see on a YTD basis, last year versus this year, while there are some costs which have increased, say, the employee costs, etc., network costs is again a thing because we've conveyed that we have taken such initiatives with regard to, I mean, consumption, etc. I mean, even in the case of, I mean, marketing costs, we have said that we have ensured that the content costs have come down. So therefore, all these have given us benefits, and we expect these benefits to, I mean, keep going.
But having said that, from a network cost perspective, given as I answered Sanjesh earlier, based on the number of hours that goes up and the way we account for it, obviously there will be some costs coming in as the numbers increase.
And also in terms of the marketing costs, I think we have kind of contained that right now. But as we reach a point where the network rollout has reached a place where we think they're not as important to communicate to a larger audience through television and all, I think all those would also come. So those costs would also go up where we are kind of doing a lot of communication, but that's not the extensive kind of communication at this point.
Understood. Thank you.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Hemang Khanna from Nomura. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Thank you for taking my question. My first question relates to the subscriber base. Now that we are halfway through the quarter and tariff hikes are largely absorbed, could you help to understand how subscriber losses are trending now, and has the run rate improved significantly from the third quarter run rate? And my second question is on the debt raise. Could you help us with updates on that, on what's happening with the debt raise? Is there any timeline in place? And additionally, to help us understand this better, what are some roadblocks or the next steps which are present from the debt raise perspective which are required for us to close the debt raise now? Thanks.
Okay. So I think on the subscribers, as I had alluded to in the opening remarks, and let me repeat that point that our investments, let me just put things in perspective. We started making the equipment CAPEX, which was largely upgrade of capacity and coverage by rolling out 900 MHz 4G and also deploying more layers of spectrum on existing sites by software upgrades. This was the main activity which we had done between June to September, which kind of gave us capacity, somewhat increased coverage, and better indoor experience through rollout of 4G on 900 where it did not exist earlier. We finalized our orders with the vendors in September where we had made the announcement, and those deliveries have started coming from end of October. The large-scale deployment started then in November, and December has been a fairly large deployment, which will continue going forward, so I think this is what is happening.
So I think as a result of all these initiatives and also a lot of communication, which I hope is visible to you, we have been able to, in December and January, as I've given, in 11 Circles, we have had a positive VLR net add, which has happened after a long, long period of time. So definitely, these investments have started to show an impact. And as I mentioned, this is a very small part of our overall CAPEX plan. And we believe as the CAPEX grows, and particularly the sites, so our population coverage has grown from 1.03 billion to about 1.07 billion since April. By the end of this quarter, we expect to get to 1.1 billion with the ultimate target of going to 1.2 billion.
So I think this will keep on happening, but I guess in our case, it is both a question of the network experience and perception because till the time we were not investing or action was not visible on the ground, there was this perception that we will probably not invest. When customers are now seeing action on the ground, investments coming, their experience improving, I think these things will turn around. And we are very confident that as we keep on continuing this momentum and accelerate the investment, we will see the subscriber metrics improving further. The second question was relating to debt. Seems like this one of the concerns which happened after the Curative Petition was dismissed, not so much on merits but on a technicality.
I think there was a concern whether the Government is supportive of the telecom sector and in addressing the issues which were kind of arising out of in terms of liquidity post the AGR judgment. While the larger engagement with the Government is ongoing to find a solution to that, I think the action by the Government in waiving the bank guarantees is a clear indication from the Government that they remain committed to support the telecom sector through reforms as and when required, and I think that has given confidence also to the banks, so I think post that we have restarted the discussions with the banks, discussions are ongoing. However, as I had mentioned before, the banks are also looking at some clarity on the AGR front.
Let me repeat again that the projections which we have been working on with the banks did not consider any relief on AGR, but given that it is an important point, they also want to seek some clarity as to what is the final position on the AGR, so these are ongoing discussions. These are progressing, and we believe that we should be able to kind of come to a conclusion soon. I will not be able to give you a timeline at this point of time because there are multiple moving parts. I hope I've answered both your questions completely.
Sure. Thank you. Extremely helpful.
Thank you. Thank you. Next question is from Aditya Bansal from Motilal Oswal. Please go ahead.
Hi, Sanjesh. Thanks for taking my question. My question is around two data points that are quite divergent. One is your postpaid subscriber base has been consistently going up. Whereas if I look at data size or data usage metrics, they are on a declining trend despite of the generous free data that you mentioned in the opening remarks. So what would explain this divergence? And I may have a follow-up on this.
Okay. I think our telecom trends generally are determined by prepaid subscribers. Postpaid subscribers, while being high ARPU, they are not the ones which drive the trends of consumption. So postpaid subscribers are going up. And as I've alluded that, which I believe you would have noticed, that if you just look at the postpaid subscribers, it's a mix of M2M and the consumer space. A large part of the overall postpaid increase is coming from M2M, but over the last one year, we have seen a consistent growth in postpaid subscribers.
But they do not determine the data usage. The large part of it comes from the prepaid subscribers. So that is point number one. Now, in terms of data usage, we have seen a bit of decline which was happening, but I'm happy to say that with whatever initiatives we have taken, we have seen a growth happening in January over December. And we expect this month-on-month growth to continue in the coming two months also. So there has been a period where, of course, the important metric is data usage per sub, and that is the one I'm referring to, not really the overall data usage. But in January, we have seen an overall improvement in the data consumption usage, not the data per sub amount.
Sure. Would it be possible to share the quantum of subscribers who are using less than 1 GB a month on your network? Just wanted to assess potential impact from the down trading to the voice-only account. Is that possible?
No. So I don't have that data, but let me just tell you, we have been looking at, and of course, maybe this is not the right time to draw any conclusions, but there has not been so much movement towards that. My personal opinion is that today, the market has evolved to a point where people are wanting, everybody wants some data. So let's say even if you were consuming 200 MB of data a month, you cannot move to a voice and text plan. You are saying how many people consume less than 1 GB. I'm saying even if I'm consuming 100 MB, I would need a data plan. Also, the differential between the voice and text plan and ULP is marginal.
So anybody who wants to use, so I don't think given the price differential between the two, there is so much scope for down trading. And in any case, for people who have minimal data users or even who need the comfort of having a data plan without any usage also, if you're just paying some INR 20 extra per month, I don't think it is very much. So I don't see much of a risk there, although this is just early days, and we'll have to see how this evolves.
Sure. Thanks so much.
Thank you very much. Participants, remember to star one to ask a question. Next question is from the line Rishabh from HSBC. Please go ahead.
Hey, hi, Management. Thank you for the opportunity. Can you remind us on the amount of statutory payables due in FY26 and FY27, and what is the split there between AGR and spectrum liabilities?
So, okay. On the AGR liability, the installment annually after the moratorium period is roughly about 16,000 crores.
Yeah. And as far as the spectrum is concerned, that would be roughly about—so actually, FY26, the installment would be less. So the AGR remains the same for FY26 and FY27, which is about 26,000 crores. I think the spectrum installment in FY27 is about 12,000 crores. That's right. Yeah. And in FY27, it will be more like 26,000-27,000 crores.
Thank you .
Thank you. A reminder to all the participants, remember to press star one to ask a question. Next follow-up question is from Vivekanand Subbaraman from Ambit Capital. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thanks for the follow-up opportunity. So my question is on the users on the network. You mentioned that as soon as the tariff hikes happened, there was some major migration to BSNL. Have those customers started returning now that the 90-day cooling-off period is over? That's one. Secondly, as you chart out your 5G rollout plan, would it be possible for you to disclose how many 5G users are there on the network? Those are on the subscribers. Now, Akshay, you mentioned in your answer to my prior question that you are also engaging with the Government to convert some of the non-deferred loans into equity. What is your ask from the Government at this stage? Do you need more time to pay, or do you want to get the Government to convert more amounts of spectrum dues into equity? Could you explain that? Thanks.
So, Vivek, let me answer, or you may say not answer your last question, is that that is something I think it's a wider engagement with the government, and I think it would not be right on my part to get into any further details besides what I've already explained to you. In terms of the impact of BSNL, the impact has completely reversed. And I think if I just look at June versus what is happening currently, the net port in from BSNL has increased from June to January as far as we are concerned, although in the interim, there has been a period of loss. Now, there are some subscribers who have preferred to stay there. It's not that everyone is coming back, but I think the gains which BSNL has had is reversed, and I think more than reversed.
If the net porting from BSNL has increased from June to January, it is basically some reversal which is happening. We have not tracked it at a subscriber level, really. The other thing which I can also tell you is that as far as the MNP is concerned, again, compared from June till today, our net port outs have reduced significantly. There has been a significant improvement over the last six months, which is also a reflection of one of the improving metrics.
Okay. I had actually asked the 5G users also, if it is handy.
So I will not be able to give you exact data, but what I can say is that the 5G devices, even though our number of subscribers has been declining, but within that declining base, the number of 5G devices on our network is constantly increasing. And if that is happening while we currently do not have any offering of 5G, as we start rolling out 5G, and the main thing these two start with, I'm sure that that number will grow at a faster rate. But at this point of time, we are seeing constant increase in the number of 5G devices on our network.
Sure. Just one small feedback. The other two operators are disclosing the 5G devices on their network. It would be great if you can do that also.
Yeah. The other two competitors also have 5G networks. So we'll take that feedback and start reporting at an appropriate time.
Sure. I have one last, if I am permitted, I will ask that. Would you be able to give the FY26 CAPEX guidance?
No. I think that we'll be able to give at the time of the next earnings call.
Okay. Thank you so much and all the very best.
Thanks.
Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, with your time concerned, that will be the last question. I'll now hand the conference back to Mr. Akshaya Moondra for closing comments.
Thank you very much, Neerav. As alluded in my opening remarks with our initial investment, which has resulted in higher coverage and better experience for customers in already covered areas, we are witnessing green shoots. It is reflecting in the combined Vi subscriber numbers for December and January, showing positive metrics in 11 Circles. 5G is also underway in our key geographies. With our intensifying investments, we are very confident of further improvement in both operational and financial performance. 2025 is an important year for Vi as the company is taking critical steps in its transformation journey.
Including the recent equity infusion by Vodafone Group, we have raised INR 260 billion of equity in the last 10 months. The bank guarantee waivers from Government have showed their support to the industry. We are working towards closure of debt funding for the execution of our long-term network expansion plan. Thank you all for joining this call and have a good day.
Thank you very much. On behalf of Vodafone Idea Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines. Thank you.