Voda-Idea merger bold move, hope for quick approvals: COAI

Cellular body COAI on Monday termed the merger of Idea Cellular and Vodafone India as a “bold” move and said the combined stronger entity will be beneficial to both government and consumers of the Indian telecom market.

Stating that the merger will be “good” not only from an organisational perspective, but from the point of view of consumers and the government, COAI hopes that the amalgamation will get “quick” clearances given the Centre’s emphasis on ease of doing business.

“It is a bold move from both the operators... and signals their intention to be long-term players in India. From the government’s perspective, it will mean stability in terms of payments because it is a stronger entity that will emerge,” Rajan Mathews Director General COAI said.

Earlier during the day, Aditya Birla Group Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla said, “This combination will enable the Aditya Birla Group to create a high quality digital infrastructure that will transition the Indian population towards a digital lifestyle, and make the government’s Digital India vision a reality.”

Vodafone Group chief executive Vittorio Colao said, “The combined company will have the scale required to ensure sustainable consumer choice in a competitive market and to expand new technologies — such as mobile money services — that have the potential to transform daily life for every Indian.”

While interacting with analysts on a conference call, Idea MD Himanshu Kapania said, “There is some degree of recovery which has begun to happen in the industry with the announcement of charging and with some monetisation process that has started by the new entrant.”