Voda, Idea complete merger

Idea Cellular and Vodafone said on Friday that they have completed the merger of their telecom operations in the country, creating India’s largest telecom operator by subscribers and revenue.

The merged entity will have a subscriber base of over 408 million and a market share of over 35 per cent. It will have a pan India revenue market share of 32.2 per cent.

The new $23 billion Vodafone-Idea giant will depose Bharti Airtel as the top mobile firm.

The telecom sector has been seeing a wave of consolidation since the entry of Mukesh Ambani-led Jio in 2016 unleashed a tariff war which resulted in smaller players wrapping up their businesses.

Now, India has four major telecom players: Vodafone-Idea, Airtel, Reliance Jio and BSNL. State-owned telecom operator MTNL operates in Delhi and Mumbai circles.

The deal gives Vodafone India an implied enterprise value of `82,800 crore and Idea an enterprise value of `72,200 crore. Vodafone will own 45.1 per cent of the new business while the Aditya Birla Group will own 26 per cent after paying `3,900 crore cash for a 4.9 per cent stake. The savings from the deal are estimated at `14,000 crore.

The entity’s board will have 12 directors, with Kumar Mangalam Birla as chairman and Balesh Sharma as CEO. Vodafone has a right to appoint CFO, and the firms have together chosen Balesh Sharma as CEO.