BENGALURU, May 16 Reuters Vodafone Idea, India39;s thirdlargest telecom operator by subscribers, missed analysts39; estimates for quarterly revenue on Thursday, hurt by its shrinking user base.

The company39;s consolidated revenue rose 0.7 to 106.07 billion Indian rupees 1.27 billion for the quarter ended March 31, compared with LSEG estimates of 107.15 billion rupees.

Consolidated loss after tax widened to 76.75 billion rupees, while analysts expected a loss of 76.88 billion rupees.

Vodafone Idea was formed by a merger between the Indian arm of UK39;s Vodafone Group and Aditya Birla Group39;s Idea Cellular in 2018, in a bid to contest a brutal price war triggered by Mukesh Ambani39;s Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd.

Since then, the merged entity has posted a loss in every quarter as it lost ground to rivals Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio.

Vodafone Idea39;s 4G subscriber base grew to 126.3 million as on March 31, 2024, from 122.6 million a year ago. But its overall subscriber base fell about 6 to 213 million.

The debtsaddled company had raised 200 billion rupees through equity last month, as part of a larger fundraising plan with an aim to launch its 5G services and expand 4G coverage.

The company is in discussions with banks to raise up to 250 billion rupees and additional nonfund based facilities of up to 100 billion rupees, it said on Thursday.

It plans to utilize these funds for capex, which is expected to be in the range of 500550 billion rupees over the next three…