Tanla Platforms says won't renew pact with Vodafone Idea beyond November

The pact was first inked in November 2021 (Reuters file image)

Cloud communications firm Tanla Platforms on August 18 announced that its agreement with telecom firm Vodafone Idea Ltd (VIL), for providing secure and encrypted international messaging traffic, will not be continued beyond November this year.

The initial term agreement with the stressed telco was signed in November 2021, for a validity of two years.

The non-continuation of this agreement will hit the company's revenue by Rs 17 crore, and its net profit by Rs 9 crore, Tanla said in a regulatory filing.

"Tanla had entered into a term sheet with Vodafone Idea for provision of Platform and Firewall services for International A2P services in November 2021, which was valid for a term of two years. This partnership will not continue beyond the initial term," it stated.

"This would have a revenue impact of Rs 17 crore and PAT impact of Rs 9 crore on a full-quarter basis post November 2023," the company added.

Earlier in the day, Route Mobile announced that it has entered into an agreement with VIL to provide A2P (Application-to-Person) monetisation solutions, catering to all A2P SMS traffic on the telco's network.

VIL, which has been reeling under losses, on August 14 said one of its promoter group entity has assured assistance of Rs 2,000 crore to the company, if it requires financial support to meet the impending payment obligations. The identity of the promoter group entity was not disclosed.

In a separate regulatory filing on the same date, the company said it "has submitted a letter today to the Department of Telecommunications", proposing to pay "spectrum auction instalment of Rs 1,680 crore, which is due on 17th August 2023 to DoT, by availing the grace period of 30 days with interest".

VIL, notably, had ended FY23 with Rs 2.09 lakh crore of net debt. As per company data, its debt to banks and financial institutions stood at Rs 11,390 crore in the March quarter. Of this, Rs 8,380.4 crore is payable by March 31, 2024.

VIL on August 14 also released its financial results for the quarter ending June 2023, with the net loss widening to Rs 7,840 crore. This was higher than a net loss of Rs 6,418.9 crore reported in the previous quarter, and Rs 7,295.7 crore reported in the year-ago period.