British telecom giant Vodafone and Kumar Mangalam Birla-owned Idea Cellular announced the all-share merger deal on Monday, creating the largest mobile operator by customer and revenue market share in the country. The mega entity is expected to create a telecom giant with its wide-ranging implications for the industry, services, the staff and consumers.
“The merged entity will be jointly controlled by Vodafone and the Aditya Birla group as per shareholders’ agreement,” said Idea and Vodafone in a joint statement.
As telecom industry is on consolidation move, besides this merger, its competitor Bharti Airtel has already bought Indian assets of Telenor, while Reliance Communication, Aircel, Tata Teleservices and MTS are in talks for merger.
Voda-Idea telecom giant will be headed by Kumar Mangalam Birla as Chairman and is expected to come into force over the next two years. Vodafone will have its nominee as the Chief Financial Officer, according to its Chief Executive Officer Vittorio Colao.