India’s No. 3 mobile phone carrier, Idea Cellular, has strongly denied a news report that it was in exploratory talks about a merger with larger rival Vodafone India.
A spokeswoman for Idea’s parent, conglomerate Aditya Birla, called the CNBC TV18 report of talks between Idea and Vodafone “baseless and absolutely false.”
“This is absolutely untrue and preposterous,” she said in an e-mail. “There is no such intent.”
Shares in Idea closed 6.9 percent higher after the TV channel said the two sides were in talks, citing unnamed sources.
A spokesman for Vodafone India, India’s No. 2 operator by market share and the local arm of Britain’s Vodafone Group Plc , declined to comment on the report.
India is the world’s second-biggest mobile phone market by subscriptions, behind China, but high competition in the crowded market has kept profits under pressure.
Adding to the competition, Reliance Jio — a telecom venture backed by India’s richest man Mukesh Ambani — is set to launch commercial operations in the coming months.
“Both of them are struggling with their data revenue market share and ahead of a big competitive change in the industry they might want to get bigger,” IDFC securities analyst Abhishek Gupta said of Idea and Vodafone India.
Any such deal would also face tough regulatory scrutiny and analysts say approvals would be unlikely, as the companies would breach the 50 percent revenue market share limit in many regions of the country if they did try to merge.
“It’s very unlikely,” PhillipCapital (India) analyst Naveen Kulkarni said, citing the regulatory hurdles.
“I’m doubtful whether this can go through but there could be some other form of merger, such as spectrum-sharing deals,” he added.
Source: Arab News
GMT 15:03 2017 Tuesday ,24 October
Second Palestinian mobile provider enters GazaGMT 14:34 2017 Sunday ,15 October
US mobile carriers Sprint, T-Mobile to mergeGMT 16:20 2017 Thursday ,21 September
Google likely to buy stake in Taiwan smartphone maker HTCGMT 09:46 2017 Friday ,15 September
Apple's grand plan in Ireland held up by a forestGMT 14:01 2017 Thursday ,14 September
Saudis urged to report on fellow citizens via mobile appGMT 16:15 2017 Sunday ,03 September
China's Huawei unveils mobile AI assistant at Berlin's IFAGMT 14:32 2017 Monday ,26 June
Russian intelligence says Telegram app used in bombingGMT 14:00 2017 Sunday ,25 June
Dutch invent phone app to stop kids texting on bikesMaintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©
Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©
Send your comments
Your comment as a visitor