The Idea-Vodafone merger is likely to close faster, as early as next March-April, six months before the more conservative September 2018 timeline recently suggested by Vodafone Group CEO Vittorio Colao.
Vodafone India and Kumar Birla-led Idea, the country’s second and third-largest telcos, are merging their businesses to create India’s biggest phone company with over 400 million customers. Court and telecom department (DoT) approvals for the merger are pending, with the anti-trust body having cleared it already.
The merger is crucial for both telcos who have been struggling individually to take on new entrant Reliance Jio, losing subscribers and slumping to losses.
But the merged entity is set to initially ring in Rs 2,700 crore (about $415 million) of cost savings by halving tenancies in some 70,000-odd overlapping sites where both telcos have the same 2G gear. The merged entity, however, would have to pay exit penalties for this, although this would be classified into a “one-time dis-synergy line item that would come below operating income” or Ebitda.
vodafone-idea merger: Idea-Vodafone merger likely to close 6 months earlier, by March-April, Telecom News, ET Telecom
Vodafone India and Kumar Birla-led Idea, the country’s second and third-largest telcos, are merging their businesses to create India’s biggest phone company with over 400 million customers. Court and telecom department (DoT) approvals for the merger are pending, with the anti-trust body having cleared it already.
The merger is crucial for both telcos who have been struggling individually to take on new entrant Reliance Jio, losing subscribers and slumping to losses.
But the merged entity is set to initially ring in Rs 2,700 crore (about $415 million) of cost savings by halving tenancies in some 70,000-odd overlapping sites where both telcos have the same 2G gear. The merged entity, however, would have to pay exit penalties for this, although this would be classified into a “one-time dis-synergy line item that would come below operating income” or Ebitda.
vodafone-idea merger: Idea-Vodafone merger likely to close 6 months earlier, by March-April, Telecom News, ET Telecom