JOIN USA day after the Department of Telecom granting conditional approval to the merger of Vodafone and Idea Cellular, British Telecom major on Tuesday said the company is upbeat about the Indian market and will remain competitive post merger.
Top Vodafone executives met Union Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha and Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundarajan here and discussed the sectoral issue.
Emerging out of the meeting, Vodafone Group CEO designate and Chief Financial Officer Nick Read told reporters that, "We remain competitive."
He also confirmed that the company has received letter from DOT on approval of merger of both the entity. However, the company officials refused to comment on how the company will make payments on the DOT's demand of spectrum charges.
The DOT, while giving conditional approval on Monday, has learnt to have asked for a payment of Rs 3,926 crore in cash pertaining to one-time spectrum charges of Vodafone. The amount can be paid either by Idea or Vodafone. The department has also asked Idea Cellular to furnish a combined bank guarantee of Rs 3,342 crore.
There is a speculation that both the firms may challenge in the court about the DOT's demand.
Vodafone CEO Vittorio Colao, who will remain in office till October, said he is optimistic that the new entity will be in place before he remits the office.
He also said that his company will remain strong investor in India.
Once the merger process completes, the new entity will create the country’s largest telecom operator worth over $23 billion (over Rs 1.5 lakh crore), with 35% market share and subscribers base of around 430 million.
The merger will also help both the firms to tide over their debt and face competition in the industry, that has intensified after entry of Reliance Jio to the market. The combined entity will begin working as single entity-Vodafone Idea Limited.
Vodafone will own 45.1% stake in the combined entity, while Kumar Mangalam Birla-led Aditya Birla Group would have 26% and Idea shareholders 28.9%.