Idea Cellular-Vodafone India announce biggest Indian telecom merger

Idea Cellular and Vodafone India today announced merger to become country's biggest telecom company. According to the deal, Vodafone will hold 45 per cent stakes in the new company, while Idea Cellular will have a command over 26 per cent stakes.

A final decision and announcement were pending after March 16 meeting of top Vodafone executives, who reviewed the terms of merger and gave approval.

The executives discussed operational integration, combined infrastructure, overlaps and redundancies. Experts believe that approximately 10,000 jobs will be lost due to Idea-Vodafone merger.