Fri. Mar 29th, 2024
ViVi

One of the largest network providers of the country, the Vodafone Idea group had announced on 7th September 2020 that they would change their name to look for a fresh start. The company said that henceforth they would be known as “Vi”. It has been three years since the British telecom giant, Vodafone merged with Kumar Mangalam Birla’s Idea Cellular merged in the country.

Vodafone Group CEO Nick Read said at a virtual conference on Monday, “As the integration of the two businesses is now complete, it’s time for a fresh start. That’s why we believe that now is the perfect time to launch Vi, one company which provides the strength of Vodafone India and Idea.”

He added, “This is an important next step to launch our new unified business under a new unified brand, Vi. Back in 2018, the combination of Vodafone India and Idea created the new champion for the government’s vision of Digital India. As the integration of the two businesses is now complete, it’s time for a fresh start.”

Once upon a time, the Idea used to be the largest telecom operator of the country with more than 400 Million subscribers but soon fell on its knees with the introduction of Reliance’s Jio. After that, they merged with Vodafone in 2018.

But even with the merger, they kept the two brands separate. The idea has been stronger with a large chunk of its user base in the tier-II and tier-III towns in India, while Vodafone has remained focused on the urban regions of the country, the tier-I towns.

Since then Mukesh Ambani’s Jio has become the largest operator of the country with more than $  400 million subscribers. The company with its attractive data rates lured in millions of customers in its 4g spectrum.  The company also wants to make its move in several sectors. They have received several investments from various companies, even from Facebook and Google in recent months.

In the month of May, earlier this year, the Vodafone Idea group lost 4.7 million customers while Reliance Jio added 3.7 million new subscribers in their list. Vodafone had a gross debt of Rs 1.19 lakh crore as of June end.

Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chairman of Aditya Birla Group and Vodafone Idea, during the conference when they rebranded the company said, “India is the second-largest telecom market and the largest data consumer, globally. With 1.2 billion Indians accessing voice and data services at the world’s lowest tariffs across 500,000 villages, the ubiquitous wireless network in India is unmatched for its reach and impact in people’s lives. With our new brand — Vi, we stand committed to partner with the government to accelerate India’s progression towards a digital economy, enabling millions of citizens to connect to the digital revolution and build a better tomorrow.”

“In their various avatars, since the mid-90s, Vodafone and Idea steered the growth of the sector for over decades separately. Both Vodafone and Idea have set new benchmarks in network experience, rural connectivity, customer service, enterprise mobility solutions,” he added.

Since the merger of the two telecom giants, the Vodafone Idea has not yet turned in any profits. The company plans to keep continuing its investments in the 4g wireless technology which now reaches more than 1 billion people in India, double the coverage at the time of the merger announcement.

Last week, after approval from the company’s shareholders, the company raised $3.4 billion by selling shares and raising debt. Recently the company was also relieved after hearing the supreme court verdict where the nation’s apex court granted Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel, with 10 years to pay billions they owe to the government.

Before then the Indian government had asked the company to pay back their dues within three months. The company had said that this kind of unrealistic deadline set by the Indian Government is not feasible and would leave the company no choice but to exit the market.

The operator had pumped up some subscription tariffs as they look for ways to pay down government levies.

The company shares were marked to sell at 10 percent higher before the announcement was selling at more than 4 percent higher in the afternoon trade.

 

By Swastik Bhattacharjee

A student from Kolkata. Currently content creator at The Indian Wire.

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