India: Idea Cellular denies report on merger talks with Vodafone

Idea Cellular, strongly denied a news report on Tuesday 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 email. “There is no such intent.”

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.

Full Content: Reuters

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