Vodafone, one of world’s leading international mobile communications companies, has fully arrived in India. Vodafone Essar announced, on Wednesday, that Vodafone brand will be launched in India from Friday (September 21) onwards.

But the pug that made the mobile company ever so popular with the masses will remain. India will now become the 26th country where Vodafone has operations, covering across five continents and 40 partner networks with over 200 million customers worldwide.

The popular brand of Hutch will be transitioned to Vodafone across India. This marks a significant chapter in the evolution of Vodafone as a dynamic and ever-growing brand. The brand change over next few weeks will be unveiled nationally through a high profile campaign covering all important media.

Vodafone completed the acquisition of Hutchison Essar in May 2007.

Vodafone Essar Managing Director Asim Ghosh said “We’ve had a great innings as Hutch in India and today marks a new beginning for us. Not as a departure from fundamentals that created Hutch, but an acceleration into the future with Vodafone’s global expertise.”