The Department of Telecom's (DoT) nod to merge Indian unit of the UK-headquartered Vodafone Plc and Idea Cellular, the Kumar Mangalam Birla-led telecommunications major, will create one of the biggest mergers in the telecom space in the country.

The deal that was announced 16 months ago is all set to create the country's largest mobile services operator. The combined entity will be named Vodafone Idea and here is how it will look like.

The Combined Entity

Vodafone India and Idea Cellular are currently India’s second and third largest telecom operators, respectively, in the Indian telecom industry. The merged entity will likely to emerge as an industry leader.

Who Will Own How Much In Vodafone Idea Limited?

Vodafone Plc will be the single largest shareholder in the combined entity with 45.1 percent of shares followed by Aditya Birla Group, the promoter group of Idea Cellular.

The New Pecking Order

The merged entity will have around 43 crore mobile subscribers right from day 1, which translates into a market share of more than 40%, highest among all telecom service providers.

Bharti Airtel is followed by Vodafone Idea with a market share of around 30%, and RelianceJio is fast catching up with a subscriber market share of about 18% in just two years of commercial operations.

The Big Three

Bharti Airtel is still at the number one spot among telecom service providers in India by revenue followed by the merged entity - Vodafone Idea.

Disclaimer: RIL, the promoter of Reliance Jio, also controls Network18, the parent company of CNBCTV18.com.

First Published:Jul 11, 2018 4:05 PM IST