Vodafone India and Idea Cellular merger has got official approval from Indian Government and now its becomes country's largest mobile phone operator worth more than USD 23 billion with a 35 per cent market share.
Department of Telecommunication has given its stamp of approval for the amalgamation after the two firms provided for Rs 7,248.78 crore as one-time spectrum charge (OTSC), a senior government official told.
Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan said "We expect to see robust growth in the telecom sector with the emergence of three strong private sector players, and one public sector player."
Vodafone Idea Ltd -- with nearly 430 million customers would overtake Bharti Airtel, which currently has 344 million users.
Birla, who will be the Non-Executive Chairman of the combined entity, said "The actual work starts now so we will see...we are very optimistic about it,"
