Vodafone Idea hopeful of closing SBI-led consortium funding deal

Vodafone Idea is one of India's big mobile phone companies.

It wants to build better and faster mobile networks across the country.

This building work will cost about Rs 45,000 crore over the next three years.

To pay for it, the company is trying to borrow money from a group of government-owned banks led by the State Bank of India.

It has already collected Rs 6,400 crore of the money it needs.

The company has also ordered network equipment worth about Rs 9,000 crore from companies like Ericsson, Nokia, and Samsung.

Here is some good news: for the first time since two big companies joined together to form it, Vodafone Idea gained more customers than it lost.

Its customers now spend about Rs 195 each month on average, up from Rs 190 before.

This is happening because customers are switching to new, better plans and faster 5G networks, not because prices went up.

The company hopes it can keep growing this way even without raising prices.