Cash-strapped telco Vodafone Idea (Vi) is likely to launch a Rs 20,000 crore follow-on public offer (FPO) next week, which is said to be priced at a “significant discount” to the Rs 14.87 a share that was set for the preferential issue to one of the promoters, a person familiar with the matter said.

“The relevant documents should be filed with the markets regulator very shortly, even later today or tomorrow (Thursday),” the person said.

The person added that the anchor investor portion, or the portion reserved for qualified institutional buyers (QIB), of the FPO has been fully subscribed to already. 50% of the book in an FPO is usually reserved for QIBs, 35% for retail investors and the rest for high-networth individuals (HNIs).

Brokerage CLSA said last month it has observed keen interest from foreign institutional investors in the UK on Vi’s equity-raise plan.

“The debt funding of around Rs25,000 crore will follow shortly after the FPO closes,” the person said.

The company couldn’t be immediately reached for comment.The Vodafone Idea stock was trading flat at Rs12.88 on the BSE in afternoon trade Wednesday.The board of the loss-making telco has already approved a preferential share issue to raise Rs 2,075 crore from an Aditya Birla Group (ABG) entity, which set the stage for a wider funding programme critical to the revival of the cash-strapped telco.

The shares to the ABG entity – Oriana Investments Pte Ltd. – will be issued at Rs 14.87 apiece, Vodafone Idea had said on Saturday. The stock issuance was at a premium to the closing price of Rs13.32 on the BSE last Friday.

Vodafone Idea was formed by the merger of ABG’s Idea Cellular and the India unit of Vodafone Plc in 2018. The Indian government is the largest shareholder in Vi, with a stake of more than 33%, which it got in lieu of dues as part of a rescue plan.

The promoter’s capital infusion is part of Vi’s broader two-part fundraising plan totalling Rs 45,000 crore through a mix of equity and debt. The carrier is looking to first raise Rs20,000 crore via equity by June end, and then Rs25,000 crore from lenders. Equity funding worth Rs20,000 crore would mean a dilution of around 26%, according to analysts.

The cash-strapped telco aims to use the money to repay vendors, strengthen its 4G network and fund the launch of 5G services to help compete with bigger–and profitable–rivals Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel.

Goldman Sachs recently estimated that in the absence of headline rate increases, Vi would require $8-10 billion (Rs 65,000-83,000 crore) of fresh capital over the next two years to build a mobile broadband that can compete with Airtel and Jio, which have completed 5G rollouts across India.

Vi’s net debt widened to Rs 2.14 lakh crore in the fiscal third quarter and cash and cash equivalents were at Rs 318.9 crore. Its bank debt currently stands at less than Rs 4,500 crore. It’s also staring at debt payments of nearly Rs 70,000 crore for adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues, once the moratorium on spectrum payments ends in FY26.

Its gross mobile user base shrank further by another 1.36 million to 223.05 million at the end of December, hurt also by the lack of 5G services. By contrast, market leader Jio added 3.99 million and Airtel gained 1.85 million users to end December with 459.81 million and 381.73 million subscribers, respectively.