With the approval of the Federal Government’s Department of Telecommunications, the merger of Vodafone India and Idea Cellular will create the country’s largest mobile phone operator worth more than $23 billion with a 35 percent market share. In the combined entity, Vodafone will own a 45.1 percent stake, while the Aditya Birla Group that owns Idea Cellular will have a 26 percent share, and shareholders of Idea Cellular will have a 28.9 percent share.
The deal gave Vodafone India an implied enterprise value of over $12 billion (Rs. 82,800 crore) and Idea an enterprise value of $11 billion. (Rs. 72,200 crore) The companies have yet to decide on the branding for the new entity.
With this merger, Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan said the government expects the market to stabilize. “We expect to see robust growth in the telecom sector with the emergence of three strong private sector players, and one public sector player,” she said. Vodafone Group CEO Vittorio Colao said that the company expects the merger to close in August.
Last updated: December 26th, 2025
