The merged entity would be known as 'Vodafone Idea Ltd'.
Service was launched in Mumbai in July and it will be expanded across the country in a phased manner
India's third-largest telecom operator Vodafone Idea (Vi) has secured a 10-year breather on adjusted gross revenue (AGR) payments from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). This is expected to ease pressure on its balance sheet and enable the company to raise bank debt for capital expenditure.
A new board has been constituted for the merged entity 'Vodafone Idea Ltd' with 12 directors (including six independent directors) and Kumar Mangalam Birla as its Chairman. The board has appointed Balesh Sharma as the CEO, the companies said in a joint statement. The combination will have an all-India revenue market share of 32.2 per cent and take the numero uno slot in nine telecom circles, it said adding that both Vodafone and Idea brands will continue.
Idea Cellular will have to furnish an undertaking that it will entertain all the liabilities whenever a final decision is taken by the courts
Telecom operators Vodafone and Idea Cellular on Monday said they will resume 3G services in circles where they don't have spectrum through intra-circle roaming (ICR) pacts with other operators.
While Airtel may be pushed to to No 3, Jio will find it mighty difficult to beat the new entity.
App-based communication services providers and Indian telcos are at loggerheads over the SIM-binding directions issued by the department of telecom, which are to be complied with by the end of February 2026.
Adjusted gross revenue of the industry has grown just 5.3 per cent during the financial year ended March 31
All the three companies, which dominate India's mobile services market with about 53 per cent share, have reduced the quantum of Internet download and/or validity periods on various packages they were offering, as per their websites.
GSM operators on Monday stepped up pressure against the regulator's 2G recommendations, with Idea Cellular writing to the DoT and officials of Vodafone Essar calling on TRAI chief J S Sarma to convey their objections to the spectrum proposals.
Justice Rajiv Shakdher, referring to a Supreme Court order on a plea of Bharti Cellular Ltd in a similar case, asked the Department of Telecommunications not to take any coercive steps in pursuance of its notices issued to the telecom companies asking them to stop providing 3G services to mobile users in the circles for which they lacked licences.
Bharti may look at gaining market share pre-merger and benefit from a lower capex intensity
The three will now use each other's networks through inter and intra-circle roaming arrangements where they do not have licences.
Vi partners SpaceX-rival AST SpaceMobile for satcom service on smartphones
The move by three major telecom service providers - Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar and Idea Cellular - to set up a consortium for passive infrastructure is gaining ground, but independent telecom infrastructure providers are yet to be convinced.
A large team led by Kumar Mangalam Birla has taken charge of the integration process.
This merger, Bhupesh Bhandari believes, will be watched keenly by management gurus the world over.
India's largest telecom operator in terms of subscriber numbers has been struggling to raise its share of subscribers in the market for fourth-generation technology services.
Amid an existential crisis facing the firm over Rs 50,000 crore unpaid dues towards the government, billionaire Kumar Mangalam Birla on Wednesday stepped down as the chairman of Vodafone Idea Ltd. Birla -- who had in June offered to give away his holding in the joint venture with Britain's Vodafone to the government -- will cease to be a director and non-executive chairman of the company at the end of business hours on Wednesday, VIL said in a filing to the stock exchanges. It did not give any reason for Birla's decision. He will be replaced by Himanshu Kapania (who was earlier managing director and CEO of Birla's Idea Cellular) as the new chairman of Vodafone Idea Ltd.
In August 2021, Nick Read, chief executive of Vodafone Plc at the time, did not mince his words while speaking about the India business in an earnings call. Replying to an analyst's question on Vodafone Idea, a venture with the Aditya Birla Group that had piled on huge debts and worrisome losses, Read described it as a highly stressed situation that "they (Vodafone Idea) are trying to navigate... "We, as a group, try to provide them as much practical support as we can, but I want to make it very clear, we are not putting any additional equity into India.''
While it was technically not possible to block the deal, the tax department could resort to arm-twisting.
While Vodafone will hold 45.1% of the shares in the new entity, to be renamed at a later stage, Kumar Mangalam Birla and other promoters of Idea group will hold 26%. Vodafone India will also transfer 4.9% of its shareholding to Idea's promoters for a cash consideration of Rs 38.74 lakh crores.
Denial of interconnection "appears to be with ulterior motive to stifle competition and is anti consumer", Trai said.
A Vodafone Group insider with more than 25 years in the telco across geographies, he's like the eyes and ears of the multinational in India.
The merged entity would lead with a revenue market share of about 37 per cent against Airtel's 31.2 per cent and Jio's 14.5 per cent
The company at present provides monthly mobile services at starting price of Rs 24 without data, and plans with data service starts from Rs 33 onward. It did not disclose the quantum of hike.
VIL pegs dues at Rs 21,533 cr, less than half of DoT estimate. During a meeting with Vodafone Group CEO Nick Read, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad made it clear that the government is against a monopoly in the telecom sector, and wants Vodafone Idea to survive and remain invested in India.
Triggering a tariff war, Idea Cellular on Thursday slashed data charges by 90 per cent in eight circles, following Bharti Airtel and Vodafone, who recently cut their rates by similar margins in select circles.
The companies are looking at tapping solar power, wind energy and bio-fuels, including fish and vegetable oil, to run base transceiver systems in areas with poor power supply.
Nine million subscribers opt for mobile number portability in first three months of its launch.
DoT officials said instructions have been issued to Idea and Vodafone to provide the requisite information to IB at the earliest.
Admitting a report of MRTPC's investigative unit DGIR, a Bench of the quasi-judicial body, headed by Justice O P Dwivedi, issued 'notice of enquiry' and started judicial inquiry against these operators for cartelising and increasing prices of telecom services simultaneously. Admitting a report of MRTPC's investigative unit DGIR, a Bench of the quasi-judicial body, headed by Justice O P Dwivedi, issued 'notice of enquiry' and started judicial inquiry against these operators.
Vodafone has been recognised as the most admired mobile service brand online in India followed by Tata Indicom and Aircel, a survey said.
India's third largest telecom operator Idea Cellular joined the data tariff war by slashing 2G mobile internet rates by 90 per cent and 3G tariffs by 30 per cent for six months from November 15.
The government will have to make substantial payments, as well as forego revenues in FY'23, if it wants to work on the survival of Vodafone Idea because it will have to extend the same incentives to the entire telecom sector. According to estimates, the industry has to spend around Rs 21,000-Rs 25,000 crore for spectrum which it bought on a deferred payment basis. Vodafone Idea has asked for a moratorium for another year (FY23). If granted, the government will have foregone the instalment payout for a third year in a row as it has already provided a moratorium for two years, giving telcos Rs 42,000 crore worth of relief.
Vodafone's operating loss from India business jumped to 692 million euros in April-September from 133 million euros in the same period last year.
The overall wireless subscriber base increased to 114 crore at the end of June
Idea Cellular has gone off the beaten track in its 3G growth strategy.
In July 2012, TDSAT gave split verdict where one of the bench member ruled in favour and other member ordered against it.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances