Voda-Idea merger approved, says Sinha

Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha on Wednesday said the government had approved the Idea Cellular and Vodafone India merger, the sector’s biggest, but the companies need to complete some formalities for the final closure of the deal.

“We have already approved merger of Idea-Vodafone. There are some formalities which are pending that they have to complete for it,” Sinha said.

Top management of Vodafone, the British telecom firm, met the minister on Tuesday after the deal was given conditional approval by the Department of Telecom on July 9. “They met me and to thanked that we have done it very quickly,” Sinha said.

BSNL starts first internet telephony service

State-run telecom firm BSNL on Wednesday unveiled first internet telephony service in the country that will allow users to dial any telephone number in India through its mobile app. Now, BSNL customers will be able to make calls using the company’s mobile app “Wings” to any phone number in the country. Before this, phone calls on mobile apps was possible within users of a particular app and not on telephone numbers. “In present competitive environment, increase in market share by BSNL is laudable. I congratulate BSNL management for internet telephony, which will enable consumers to make call without SIM,” Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha said.