Vodafone-Idea Merger Gets the Final Government Nod

The government on Thursday gave the final approval for the mega merger of Vodafone and Idea Cellular that will create the country’s largest mobile operator with 35% market share and around 430 million subscribers.
The move comes just days after Idea Cellular and Vodafone India made a joint payment of ?7,268.78 crore ‘under protest’ to the Department of Telecom (DoT) for merging their mobile businesses. A senior DoT official privy to the development said the final approval was accorded to the merger on Thursday and the entities would now approach the Registrar of Companies (RoC) for stipulated filings for approval, completing the last leg of formalities.
The DoT gave the conditional nod to the merger on July 9 and asked the two firms to meet the demand raised for taking the merger on record.