BENGALURU: American wireless carrier Verizon Communications and Amazon.com may invest more than $4 billion for a stake in India’s Vodafone Idea Ltd the Mint newspaper reported on Thursday, sending shares in the struggling Indian telecom firm 14 per cent.
Vodafone Idea, a joint venture between Britain’s Vodafone Group and India’s Idea Cellular, still owes roughly $6.8 billion to the Indian government. It is among India’s top three telecom firms by subscribers.
The Financial Times reported in May that Alphabet Inc’s Google was considering buying a roughly 5 per cent stake in Vodafone Idea. Reuters reported in June Amazon was in talks to buy a stake in Vodafone Idea’s Indian rival Bharti Airtel.
Separately on Thursday, Indian news channel CNBC-TV 18 reported Vodafone Idea could “take stock” of a sale of its optic fibre business at a Friday board meeting scheduled to consider a fundraising plan.
Canada’s Brookfield Asset Management and private equity group KKR were contenders for the business, with Brookfield seen as the frontrunner, CNBC-TV 18 said.