Key Points
India's top telco, Reliance Jio Infocomm, has raised close to $2 billion (16,640 crore) in one of the country's biggest offshore loans in FY24..
HSBC was lead arranger of the initiative that will help fund recent 5G network gear purchases from Finland's Nokia, people aware of the matter said.. Finnish export credit agency Finnvera is believed to have provided a cover of a similar sum to insure Jio's 5G gear supplier, Nokia, and the telco's global lenders from risks..
The Finnvera cover is likely to also reduce Jio's overall 5G gear funding costs as global lenders and 5G networks suppliers involved in such large deals, typically, feel more comfortable...
Top industry executives and bankers said potential guarantees from Finnvera to de-risk the Jio-Nokia 5G deal is vital, given Jio's large offshore loan along with the fact that monetisation of 5G mobile broadband services is at least a year away in absence of a devices ecosystem and relevant use-cases..
ET had reported on July 6 that Jio was in talks with several top global banks to raise around $4 billion of offshore loan to fund its nationwide 5G rollout - mainly buying network gear from Nokia and Ericsson...
