The combined Vodafone-Idea company will overtake Bharti Airtel as India’s largest network provider
Image Credit: AP
Vodafone Group CEO, Vittorio Colao, right, shakes hand with Aditya Birla Group chairman, Kumar Mangalam Birla after a press conference in Mumbai, India, Monday, March 20, 2017.
MUMBAI: British mobile phone giant Vodafone will merge its Indian unit with Idea Cellular to create the country’s largest telecoms operator, the firms said on Monday, as they combine to fight a price war sparked by the country’s richest man.
The confirmation ended months of speculation that the two operators were ready to sign a deal to help fend off the Mukesh Ambani-backed Reliance Jio, whose recent arrival has shaken up India’s ultra-competitive mobile network market.
“Vodafone Group Plc and Idea Cellular today announced that they have reached an agreement to combine their operations in India,” they said in a statement to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
“The combined company would become the leading communications provider in India with almost 400 million customers, 35 per cent customer market share and 41 per cent revenue market share,” the statement added.
Jio launched in September with an audacious free service for the rest of 2016, followed by vastly cheaper data plans and free voice calls for life, forcing rivals to dramatically slash their tariffs.
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