Vodafone today confirmed that it is in talks with Aditya Birla Group’s telecom arm Idea Cellular for an all-share deal that could help both the companies counter the fierce competition in the market. This will create India’s largest telecom company with revenues of over Rs. 80,000 crore.
If the merger goes through, it will create India’s largest telecom player both in revenues and subscribers, taking on Airtel and Reliance Jio. In a statement Vodafone said that any merger would involve Idea issuing new shares to Vodafone and would result in Vodafone deconsolidating Vodafone India.
In November last year Vodafone took a 5 billion euros ($5.5 billion) charge on the value of its India business due to the start of a price war sparked by Reliance Jio who recently introduced “Happy New Year” offer extending its free data, voice and Apps till March 31, 2017.