The telecom department is likely to approve the merger between Idea Cellular and Vodafone India within this month, a senior official said, which will pave the way for creating the largest carrier in India by subscribers and revenue market share. “The final approval should come within this month,” the official said,
In fact Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan recently said that, ‘The Idea-Vodafone merger is in the final stages of approval, because they’ve got the NCLT and Sebi clearances, but there are some FDI approvals that are involved, there’s liberalization of licenses, so there are a number of clearances and not a one-step clearance, so we’re in the process of expediting it.’
The merger has been already approved by NCLT, Sebi, and CCI. The merged entity will have 410 million customers and nearly 42 percent customer market share (CMS) and nearly 37 percent revenue market share (RMS).
To recall, Idea Cellular and Vodafone Group Plc announced the proposed leadership team of the combined business, that will have Kumar Mangalam Birla as the non-executive Chairman, while Balesh Sharma (currently Chief Operating Officer of Vodafone India) will be the CEO and he will be responsible for the combined business strategy and its execution as well as driving integration.
The existing leadership teams of Idea Cellular and Vodafone India will continue to manage their separate businesses and be accountable for each company’s operational performance until the merger becomes effective.
It is only upon completion of the merger that the two businesses will cease to operate as distinct and competing entities. Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at Idea, Akshaya Moondra will take charge as CFO of the new company.
Current Deputy managing director of Idea, Ambrish Jain will take charge as Chief Operating Officer of the new company.
However, Sunil Sood will join the Vodafone Group AMAP Leadership Team and also help governance through Board memberships. The Aditya Birla Group intends to nominate Himanshu Kapania as the non-executive Board member of the merged entity.
