Following a spike in its share price, telecom giant Vodafone Idea Ltd. clarified on 19 March its ongoing talks with satellite communication providers, including Starlink. Following media speculations of a possible partnership, the corporation said that these talks are part of its regular business plan to improve service quality and broaden its telecom services. Vi informed the exchanges that the brand is in exploratory discussions with Starlink and other Satcom providers.
The Ongoing Developments of Vodafone Idea
On March 19, the company’s shares enjoyed notable increases, closing at INR 7.45 per share, up roughly 5%. Vodafone Idea provided the clarification after the exchanges asked the business for one in response to the story and its potential impact on the increase in the share price. The business added that the share price might have been impacted by its announcement of the launch of its 5G services in Mumbai. In an exchange filing, it had said that, supported by its investment in next-generation infrastructure and competitive spectrum ownership, its 5G services would be accessible in the city starting from 19 March.
Starlink Shaking Up India’s Internet Space
Starlink from Elon Musk could change internet and mobile data, making the Indian telecom market a two-horse race between Jio and Airtel while Vi tries to catch its breath. Vi trails behind, still in the 5G rollout phase, while the two titans are currently at the forefront of the market with their strong 4G and 5G offers. A whole new level of competitiveness is brought about by Musk’s Starlink, especially in isolated and rural locations where Vi would have thought there was room for growth. Even in places where Vi has historically held sway, Jio and Airtel can now provide ultra-fast connectivity thanks to Starlink’s satellite-based internet, which does away with the requirement for substantial physical infrastructure.
Starlink Partners with Jio and Airtel
Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel, two of India’s top telecom providers, have partnered with Elon Musk’s Starlink to offer satellite internet services in the nation. The goal of these collaborations is to improve internet connectivity, particularly in isolated and underdeveloped areas. By sending signals from its constellation of satellites to user terminals—consumer hardware like a router or antenna—on the ground, Starlink offers internet connectivity. These terminals, which resemble little dishes, provide mobile internet access by connecting to a Wi-Fi router. This technology is probably going to play a significant role in closing the digital divide in India. A sizable section of India’s population lives in rural areas with little or no access to the internet. Telemedicine, e-commerce, and online education can all be facilitated using Starlink. Additionally, this can foster economic growth and empower rural communities. In addition, Starlink can offer dependable internet connection in isolated locations where installing fibre optic lines is difficult or impossible, such as mountains and forests.
The Maha Kumbh Mela of Hindus, celebrated 144 years ago, is a religious event that is attended by millions of pilgrims from all over the world. The pilgrims are from far away to four places in India – the Holy cities of Prayagraj (Allahabad), Haridwar, Ujjain, and Nashik. Based on Hindu philosophy, the holy dip in the sacred rivers present at these places will purify the soul and grant deliverance from the worldly cycle of birth and death. Also linked with some stories from the ancient Hindu scripture and mythology is the age-old belief about the falling of drops of the divine nectar of immortality at any of these sacred spots.
The Kumbh Mela has references dating back to the Rigveda and the 3rd century BCE. However, this festival became very powerful in the 7th century AD when King Harsha arranged grand gatherings at Prayagraj. Today, it is one of the biggest peaceful gatherings in the world, uniting culture and spirituality. Seekers from several regions attend the festival for bath-taking activities, sage lectures, and vibrant cultural exchanges, which showcase India’s cultural repertory.
Maha Kumbh Mela offers brands an opportunity to connect with millions of people in Prayag’s mobility and shape strategies that align the campaign with the event’s inherent spiritual essence. The campaign could also provide customized add-on services, such as travel insurance, and experiential marketing. The advertising glut could be as high as INR 3,000 crores as brands fight it out in a strategic duel of brand and product choice placement and direct new customers to centers of consumption.
Let’s explore some exemplary marketing campaigns done by some popular brands.
The “Dettol Banega Swasth India” (DBSI) Dettol’s campaign is capitalizing on the 2025 Maha Kumbh Mela to fight for public hygiene and health for millions of pilgrims. The program will involve deploying hundreds of thousands of soaps at the food service areas to instill the habit of washing hands before and after eating. In addition, Dettol is also assisting sanitation workers by training about 15,000 staff and providing hygiene products to ensure cleanliness across the period. Health and hygiene volunteers will be on duty to help pilgrims with their orientation promoting civic involvement and hygiene promotion at the community levels. For authentic cultural resonance, the campaign utilizes street plays and puppet shows featuring hygiene messages. Dettol is a constant presence (2016) and a trusted public health partner, in line with India’s vision of a healthier country by 2047.
Eveready Industries India Limited is undertaking a focused promotional drive at the 2025 Maha Kumbh Mela, to enhance this experience for the large number of pilgrims. The program entails the mounting of 13,000 LED lights at the Mela site, which provides bright illumination and enhances safety, particularly during nighttime hours. Eveready’s energy-saving lighting promotes sustainability as well as accident reduction and provides conveyance for the attendees. In this work, the brand is bestowed with a socially equitable status focused on the public good and uses its products as vehicles to represent the spiritual and cultural heart of the festival occurring. This campaign is aimed at strengthening the relationship with consumers among Eveready, creating goodwill, and furthering its brand image as an innovative company and responsible corporation.
Uber
In collaboration with the Airports Authority of India (AAI), Uber has launched a strategic campaign to improve the transportation services during the Maha Kumbh Mela 2025 at Prayagraj airport, with the potential for 40 crore believers to visit. The plan covers airport terminal collection areas, clearly posted with signs and assistance for smooth transfers. Uber is providing a 25% discount (maximum ₹200) redeemed for airport-to-airport travel to promote the travel. The campaign provides effective mobility options for attendees while also providing income-generation alternatives for local drivers. With its app, Uber delivers an easy-to-use system for ride bookings that is tailored to the specific transport needs of this large-scale event and reaffirms its support of reliable, community-driven services at large-scale events.
Coca-Cola India has a significant presence at the Maha Kumbh Mela 2025, where its programs revolve around hydration, sustainability, and cultural interaction. The brand will provide access to beverages such as Coca-Cola, Thums Up, Sprite, Maaza, and Fanta every 400 meters along the event site, to retain the participant’s hydration. Special Maha Kumbh edition packaging is a semblance of India’s heritage. Hydration carts and food activations will add to the culinary experience of visitors. Coca-Cola’s Maidaan Saaf campaign fosters sustainability through the distribution of 21,500 recycled PET jackets to sanitation workers, the installation of recyclate plastic playrooms, and the use of Reverse Vending Machines for waste recycling. With immersive experiences and recycling consciousness, Coca-Cola enhances festivities and provides sustainability and community support.
Dabur
Dabur is utilizing diverse innovative marketing techniques for Maha Kumbh Mela 2025 to access pilgrims and visitors. The activity consists of product sampling in streetside dhabas and food joints in Prayagraj, where, for example, popular brands like Hajmola are being promoted to induce trial and knowledge of the brand. The company is fitting out oral hygiene stations with automatic toothpaste dispensers and highlighted that health and hygiene are of paramount concern for the company. Family-friendly amenities, including female baby rooms and baby care rooms with Dabur products, are incorporated to add value to the delegates’ experience. In addition, Dabur is investing in brand activation, to foster deeper cultural bonds between the brand and customers, and attempt to access the market of a growing rural population where demand for healthy and wellness products is exploding.
In a new proposal, the footprint of Amazon India could be in Maha Kumbh Mela 2025 and one of its contributions is meant to provide relief to the pilgrims there. The company is distributing free upcycled cardboard beds in the prescribed locations of the festival (i.e., Kumbh Police and hospital staff). This sustainability-based work reuses the cardboard packaging boards from an environmentally resistant bed. Amazon collaborated with Ogilvy and specialist fabricators to provide robustness. After the event, Amazon will responsibly recycle beds unsalvageable items and donate salvageable beds to local NGOs. Director of Marketing, Pragya Sharma, pointed out this program is a part of the larger vision of Amazon India to empower communities and offer ease during mega events such as the Maha Kumbh Mela.
Vodafone Idea
Vodafone Idea (Vi) is launching a comprehensive campaign for the Maha Kumbh Mela 2025, aiming to enhance connectivity anduser experience. The 5G company services will be rolled out to consumers by 2025 in 17 priority circles, beginning with major cities such as Delhi and Mumbai, to cater to high data needs for events. To ensure reliable connectivity Vodafone Idea is setting up more than 46,000 new network sites and modernising 58,000 existing sites. The company will offer affordable 5G plans to attract customers away from competitors. Second, Vodafone Idea is planning to expand its 4G coverage to 90% of the Indian population by June 2025. Strategic partnership and participation of the community will result in deeper penetration of the platform at the Mela.
PhonePe
PhonePe enhance the digital payment experience during the Maha Kumbh Mela 2025 such that they are not interrupted in their ability to use the service to access transportation, food, and lodging. With almost 47% of the UPI market, PhonePe will handle a massive volume of transactions that will ensure speed and stability. The platform also offers a cross-border payment function, which can be used to settle transactions by international tourists. Through a range of community engagement activities, PhonePe will promote digital inclusion and financial literacy. Novel abilities such as voice-enabled point-of-sale payment and artificial intelligence (AI)-based fraud prevention will add to convenience and security even more. Collaborations with local merchants ensure widespread service accessibility. Carrying out this heavy traffic scenario, PhonePe aims at enhancing the degree of the interaction among the user and the marketspace while positively supporting the financialization of India.
Ixigo is customizing the trip for the Maha Kumbh Mela 2025 participants with a series of facilities, tools, etc. On the platform, there has been a 187% rise in train reservations for Prayagraj, which reflects an escalating demand for travel to the Mela. In particular, 57% of bookings are from single travelers, of whom 39% are female, indicating changing travel patterns. Ixigo provides functionality for comparing train schedules, making tickets, and getting actual travel information. Ixigo, partnering with Indian Railways, provides special trains or services during the Mela. On the other hand, the platform may also provide combined trip and lodging packages. Ixigo nurtures its users with safety-related travel advice and the details of the local culture, making it the traveler of choice for Mela-bound travelers.
Park+ is leveraging advanced parking solutions to enhance the Maha Kumbh Mela 2025 and is the official parking partner. The platform will provide the city of Prayagraj’s first smart parking system based on artificial intelligence (AI), offering the pilgrims an easy method of reserving and prepaying for parking spaces through the Park+ application. Coupled with FASTag payments, the system offers a fast and cashless payment system. The app will be used to offer navigation at more than 30 parking lots that are government-approved and have a total of 500,000 parking locations. Park+ will also offer 24-hour security, electric vehicle charging, medical assistance, food and drink service, and bathroom facilities. Using predictive AI, the architecture will enhance parking space allocation. By working together with Indian Oil, users will be offered fuel-price discounts, thus providing a stress-free and easy-flow parking experience.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Maha Kumbh Mela 2025 provides a novel chance for a wide array of brands and service providers to improve the lives of millions of pilgrims. Companies such as Dettol, Coca-Cola, Amazon India, Vodafone Idea, PhonePe, Ixigo, and Park+ are adopting new ideas and projects around health and connectivity, ease, and sustainability in life. Using technology and community involvement, these companies not only aim to address the possible challenges of logistics but also to add new value to the cultural and religious meaning attached to the congregation. In line with these plans becoming a reality, these methods are intended to guarantee a seamless and meaningful journey for the participants, which is a natural consequence of the importance of cross-communication and innovation in the planning of large-scale events.
FAQs
Why is 2025 Kumbh special?
This special Maha Kumbh Mela marks the completion of 12 Kumbh Mela cycles, making it a once-in-144-years event. It is set to span 44 days and is estimated to draw approximately 400 million visitors.
What are Maha Kumbh 2025 dates?
The dates for Maha Kumbh 2025 are Mon, 13 Jan 2025 – Wed, 26 Feb 2025.
How often is Maha Kumbh Mela?
Maha Kumbh Mela is approximately every 6 and 12 years.
Since its entry into India in 2007, Vodafone has established itself as a trusted mobile service provider in the country. After the launch of Reliance Jio, the company is facing tough competition in India, and some are even speculating the shut down of the company in India. Besides India, Vodafone has its operations in over 30 countries worldwide, and despite its ups and downs, Vodafone has managed to hold a significant share of the telecommunications market in many countries across the world. Vodafone is yet another example of a business that started small and went on to make a mark worldwide. Here is how Vodafone started and rose to become a leading player in the global telecommunication sector.
Racal Strategic Radio Ltd, a component of Racal Electronics, Britain’s biggest manufacturer of military radio equipment, launched a joint enterprise with American telecommunications company Millicom in 1981, which evolved into the modern Vodafone.
Today Vodafone provides a wide range of products and services for consumers, businesses, and Governments. Besides mobile services, Vodafone offers fixed broadband and television services, cloud and hosting, internet protocol-virtual private network services, roaming, and unified communications services.
Vodafone’s M-Pesa is a mobile financial and mobile payment service that allows customers to access their bank accounts to receive or send money, purchase stuff, make bill-payments, save funds, and get simple loans; and Vodafone One Net is a converged fixed and mobile communications service for big multinational companies as well as small and medium enterprises.
Vodafone also provides machine-to-machine services, as well as tablets, smartphones, and telematics commodities/services. It has roughly 16,000 retail locations, distributors, and third-party merchants selling its products.
Vodafone – Latest News
Vodafone’s first-quarter revenue for FY2021-22 increased by 1.4 percent in Germany which is its biggest market. In the UK, as international travel reopened, the telecoms behemoth benefited from visitors to the UK utilizing its network. A marginal increase in Vodafone’s revenue also came as it levied roaming fees as a result of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. Overall, the Vodafone group made revenue worth $51.169B in FY 2020-21 which is 2.32% more than in FY 2019-2020 revenue.
Since the pandemic, Vodafone has experienced a resurgence in mobile phone sales, with greater customer loyalty across Europe, according to the company.
Vodafone – Industry
Companies in the telecommunications sector make communication possible on a worldwide scale, whether it’s through the internet or phone, over waves or wires, or digitally. These businesses built the infrastructure that allows data to be transferred anywhere in the globe in the form of text, speech, audio, or video. Telephone (both landline and wireless) operators, satellite companies, cable companies, and Internet service providers are the main corporations in the industry.
Telecommunications has grown in importance as a fundamental business, which speaks well for its prospects for the future and expansion. Continuous advancements in high-speed mobile networks and Network connectivity across devices continue to fuel industry invention and rivalry. Most of the industry’s attention is focused on delivering quicker data solutions, particularly in the field of high-resolution video. The driving causes are essentially faster and crisper services, improved connection, and multi-app utilization.
Vodafone is an acronym for VOice DAta FONE (a dramatic spelling of “phone”), which was selected by the firm to “represent the availability of telecommunication services through mobiles.”
Saatchi & Saatchi, a well-known worldwide advertising business, created the Vodafone logo in 1997. Conversation and voice communication is represented by the apostrophe in the logo. It brilliantly delivers a classic telecom brand that conveys its intended message in an aesthetically attractive manner.
Vodafone’s tagline says, “Together We Can.”
Vodafone – CEO and Founders
Vodafone was founded by Ernest Harrison and Gerry Whent in 1985.
Ernest Harrison
Sir Ernest Thomas Harrison OBE (11 May 1926 – 16 February 2009) was a British entrepreneur who was best known for being the first chairman of Racal’s spin-off mobile phone section, Vodafone.
Gerry Whent
Sir Gerald Arthur “Gerry” Whent CBE was the founder and first CEO of Vodafone. He was born on March 1, 1927, in Ferozepore, India, and died on May 16, 2002, in Chilton Foliat, Wiltshire.
Nick Read
Nicholas Jonathan Read aka Nick Read is the current CEO of Vodafone group. Born in 1964, Nick is a Certified Management Accountant. Prior to joining the Vodafone group, Nick worked for United Business Media Plc and Federal Express Worldwide. At Federal Express Worldwide, Nick worked as the Chief Finacial Officer for Europe, the Middle East, and the Africa region.
Nick joined Vodafone UK as the finance director in the year 2001 and became the CEO of the Vodafone group in 2018.
Ravinder Takkar
In India, Ravinder Takkar is the MD & CEO of Vodafone-Idea. He was the Ex- CEO of Vodafone Romania.
Vodafone – Startup Story
Based in Newbury in the United Kingdom, Vodafone has been offering its services since 1985. Vodafone’s story dates back to 1981. British Electronics company Racal Electronics and American company Millicom Inc joined hands to bid jointly for UK’s second cellular radio license. The joint venture between the two companies was named Racal-Millicom Ltd. In December 1982, Racal-Millicom Ltd. was successful in earning the second Mobile phone network license of the UK.
The Network was named Vodafone as the network lets its users transfer voice and data over the mobile phones. Racal-Vodafone (Holdings) Ltd became the holding company of Vodafone replacing Racal-Millicom Ltd. Racal held the majority shares in Racal-Vodafone (Holdings) Ltd. Meanwhile, Racal’s radio division earlier called Racal Strategic Radio was renamed Racal Telecommunication group limited.
In December 1986, Racal Electronics bought the entire shares of Vodafone from the minority shareholders, and thus Racal became the sole owner of the Vodafone brand.
In September 1988, Racal Telecommunication group limited was renamed Racal Telecom. In October 1988, when Racal Telecom went public, it came out that Racal Telecom was valued much more than its parent company Racal Electronics. This led to the de-merger of Racal Telecom from Racal Electronics, and Racal Telecom was renamed again as the Vodafone Group. Gerry Whent became the first CEO of Vodafone Group.
Vodafone – Mission and Vision
Vodafone’s mission statement says, “To connect for a better future and our expertise and scale gives us a unique opportunity to drive positive change for society.”
Vodafone’s vision is, “To be the communications leader in an increasingly connected world and to enrich our customer’s lives through the unique power of mobile communication.”
Vodafone – India
Vodafone India (previously Vodafone Essar Ltd, Huchison Essar Ltd) is the Indian subsidiary of the UK-based Vodafone Group plc and a telecommunications service provider in India, having its operating headquarters in Mumbai. Vodafone India has a market share of 21% as of March 2018, and after merging with Idea, the Vodafone Idea network now has around 375 million members, making it India’s third-biggest cellular mobile provider.
The advent of Jio in the Indian telecom business in 2016 prompted a flurry of mergers and corporate restructuring. In March 2017, it was reported that Idea Cellular and Vodafone India will be consolidated. In July 2018, the Department of Telecommunications approved the merger. The Vodafone-Idea merger received final approval from the National Company Law Tribunal on August 30, 2018. On August 31, 2018, the merger was finalized, and the newly formed company was named Vodafone Idea Limited.
As per September 2021 data, Vodafone Idea Limited is the third-largest mobile communication network in India on the basis of the number of subscribers. The Vodafone Group owns 45.2 percent of the merged firm, the Aditya Birla Group owns 26 percent, and the remaining shares are held by the general public.
Vodafone is well known as a mobile service provider, but there are many more categories that Vodafone has entered into. Vodafone offers broadband and wifi services. Another popular service is Vodafone TV. Vodafone TV has been designed to offer an all-round entertainment option to the viewers. On Vodafone TV, viewers can access live TV, Video on Demand and can also access platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. Vodafone TV comes with attractive features like Ultra HD picture quality, intelligent voice search and smart replay of games, etc.
Vodafone released Vodafone 360, a new internet provider for mobile, PC, and Mac, in October 2009. After low hardware sales, this was canceled in December 2011. This followed the resignation of the Director of Internet Services in September 2010, who tweeted, “5 days until I leave Vodafone, freedom beckons.” Vodafone launched, Vodafone 150, which is the world’s cheapest mobile phone, in February 2010. Vodafone intended to sell ‘Vodafone 150’ for less than $15 (£10) in underdeveloped countries. It began in India, Turkey, and eight African countries, including Lesotho, Kenya, and Ghana.
Some other services offered by Vodafone are –
Payment through mobile phone – Safaricom, Kenya’s biggest mobile communication operator and a Vodafone joint venture, released Vodafone-developed digital payments software in March 2007. M-PESA, Kenya’s mobile money transfer service, had 1.6 million users by February 2008. By 2011, there were fourteen million M-Pesa accounts, with 40% of the country’s savings saved in them. Vodafone launched a global collaboration with Visa in February 2012.
Health Services – Vodafone launched a newly developing market sector in November 2009 (the application of mobile communications and network technologies to healthcare). Several of its early accomplishments is the Novartis-led “SMS for Life” project in Tanzania, for which Vodafone designed and developed a message-based system that allows all of Tanzania’s 4,600 public healthcare facilities to report their levels of anti-malarial medications so that accurate inventory data can be seen centrally in legitimately, allowing for quick and efficient re-supply of stock.
Vodafone Foundation – With the tagline “Connecting for Good,” the Vodafone Foundation is a well-known charity that supports and initiates programs that employ mobile technology as a means to assist the needy. They frequently collaborate with other philanthropic organizations.
Vodafone – Business Model and Revenue Model
Various economic variables have an influence on the industry’s enterprises, including high infrastructure costs, price wars in various market forces, and enmeshed mobile telephony sector, and government restrictions. Government laws, such as the recent Vodafone-Hutch transaction, which the Indian government sanctioned for tax evasion. Vodafone uses a mix of segmentation tactics to divide its mobile network services, enterprise services, and internet services. It makes use of geographic, demographic, and psychographic segmentation.
Coming to Vodafone’s revenue model, a huge chunk of Vodafone’s revenue comes from selling mobile data, voice, financial services, and messaging services to individual and enterprise customers. Vodafone also makes money by offering various other services like cloud and hosting, cyber security solutions, remote working solutions, IoT related services and more to the enterprise customers. As per 2019- 20 reports, the company is aiming to diversify its revenue streams further in segments like financial services, IoT, digital services and enterprise.
As per some reports, Vodafone’s mobile networks, which allow consumers to call, text, and download files, account for about 70% of its revenues and even more of its earnings. Fixed-line services, which include internet, TV, and voice, make for the majority of the remaining revenue.
Vodafone – Investments
Vodafone has made 25 investments in total. Below are some of the recent investments made by Vodafone.
Date
Organization Name
Round
Amount
Apr 7, 2021
AST SpaceMobile
Post-IPO-Equity
$230M
Jan 20, 2021
FifthIngenium
Convertible Note
€470K
Mar 3, 2020
AST SpaceMobile
Series B
$110M
Aug 1, 2016
DAZL
Seed Round
$10.5K
Jun 30, 2016
Fight The Stroke
Seed Round
–
Jul 27, 2015
Cognia
Venture Round
–
Jun 22, 2015
LINKX
Seed Round
€30K
Jun 22, 2015
Mentelity
Grant
€30K
Jun 22, 2015
Jobtease
Seed Round
€30K
Jun 22, 2015
Puffer
Seed Round
€30K
Vodafone – Acquisitions
Vodafone has acquired 32 organizations. Some recent acquisitions made by Vodafone are –
Acquiree Name
About Acquiree
Date
Amount
GrandCentrix
GrandCentrix develops and provides a platform for suppliers of interactive mobile value-added services
Nov 18, 2019
–
Liberty Global
Liberty Global is an international cable company providing television, broadband internet, and telephony services.
Jul 31, 2019
$21.3B
Hellas Online
Hellas Online is one of the leading Greek fixed-line telephony services providers based in Athens
Aug 22, 2014
€72.7M
Cobra Automotive Technologies
Cobra Automotive Technologies design, development, manufacture and marketing of electronic systems.
Aug 1, 2014
–
The Cobra Group
The Cobra Group is an Electronics company.
Jun 16, 2014
€145M
ONO
Communications and Entertainment
Mar 17, 2014
€7.2M
Kabel Deutschland
Kabel Deutschland is the largest cable television operator in Germany.
Jun 24, 2013
$10.4B
Complete Telecom
Complete Telecom provides network infrastructure, converged networks, and metro and WAN bandwidth solutions.
Oct 1, 2012
–
Cable & Wireless Worldwide
Cable & Wireless Worldwide is a global telecommunications company.
Apr 23, 2012
–
Bluefish Communications
Consulting and Professional Services
Dec 1, 2011
–
Vodafone – Growth
Year
Revenue
Percentage Increase/Decrease From previous Year
2021
$51.169B
+2.32%
2020
$50.011B
-1.1%
2019
$50.565B
-18.16%
Vodafone – Competitors
Vodafone’s top global competitors are : AT&T, BT, Orange, Telefonica, Deutsche Telekom, Telstra, Tata Communications, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation, Liberty Global and Telefonica Colombia.
Vodafone’s business will almost certainly continue to be hampered by tough regulatory frameworks and adverse demographic trends in its major European countries, particularly in Spain and Italy, which account for over 25% of revenues and have some of the weaker fundamentals.
Meanwhile, Vodafone’s capital allocation history does not bode well for the company’s M&A (Merger & Acquisition)plan. Since 2009, Vodafone has incurred more than $50 billion in impairment charges, which reflect the fact that an acquired asset is currently worth less than what Vodafone paid for it.
Vodafone is one of the major telecommunications businesses in the world, having a strong presence in its main European countries. However, due to its increased fragmentation and fewer business-friendly authorities, this is a challenging region to compete in when compared to America.
In light of Vodafone’s need to continue deleveraging and invest substantially in 5G, cautious income investors may choose to avoid the stock in favor of more stable telecom companies like Verizon (VZ), which have more obvious routes to profitable long-term development.
In India, Vodafone is burdened by huge dues. In total Vodafone Idea has total debt of ₹1.92 trillion, which includes AGR dues, Spectrum-related dues, and bank loans. Stiff competition from reliance JIO is another major challenge Vodafone (Currently Vodafone Idea) is facing in India.
Vodafone – Future Plans
In the March quarter, Vodafone Idea recorded a net loss of Rs 7,022 crore and net debt of Rs 1.7 lakh crore.
“Financial performance has impacted its ability to generate the cash flow that it needs to settle/refinance its liabilities and guarantees as they fall due,” the company said, “which, combined with its financial condition, is resulting in material uncertainty that casts significant doubt on the Company’s ability to make the payments mentioned therein and continue as a going concern.”
Vodafone Idea stated in a statement that it is undertaking 5G testing in the cities of Pune and Gandhinagar, utilizing spectrum authorized by the government.
With its equipment partners in Gandhinagar and Pune, the telecom claimed to have reached peak download rates of 1.5 Gbps utilizing the 3.5 GHz spectrum.
Jagbir Singh, CTO at Vodafone Idea, said, “We are pleased with the speed and latency results in the initial stages of the 5G trials on the government allocated 5G spectrum bands. Having established a robust 4G network pan-India, delivering fastest 4G speeds and a 5G-ready network, we are now testing the next generation 5G technology to be able to bring a truly digital experience for enterprises and consumers in India, in the future.”
However, despite all its efforts, ‘Vodafone Idea’ is not in a good position in India. As expressed by Vodafone Group CEO Nick Read, the company has no plans to infuse fresh funds into the ‘Vodafone-Idea’ Venture.
In its fiscal Q4 and full 2021 earnings statement, Vodafone Group stated that it will focus on growing as “a new generation connectivity and digital services provider” for Europe and Africa.
The Covid 19 pandemic has proved yet again that connectivity and digital services are crucial to society and Vodafone Group is ready to grab the opportunities that the Covid situation has created in the field of connectivity and digitization.
As per Vodafone CEO Read, the company is targeting revenue growth and disciplined capital allocation. It is also working on bringing down operating costs by 20% across its European and central Units by the end of the financial year 2023.
Vodafone – FAQs
What does Vodafone do?
Vodafone (based in Newbury, the United Kingdom) is a telecommunication services firm that provides phone, text, and data services via mobile and fixed networks, as well as fixed broadband and television services, cloud and hosting, internet protocol-virtual private network services, roaming, and unified communications services.
Who founded Vodafone?
Vodafone was founded by Ernest Harrison and Gerry Whent in 1985.
When was Vodafone founded?
Vodafone was founded by Ernest Harrison and Gerry Whent in 1985.
How does Vodafone make money?
Vodafone’s mobile networks, which allow consumers to call, text, and download files, account for about 70% of its revenues and even more of its earnings. Fixed-line services, which include internet, TV, and voice, make for the majority of the remaining revenue.
Which companies do Vodafone compete with?
Vodafone’s top global competitors are : AT&T, BT, Orange, Telefonica, Deutsche Telekom, Telstra, Tata Communications, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation, Liberty Global and Telefonica Colombia.
Vodafone’s top competitors in India are Bhart Airtel, Reliance Jio, Tata Communications, etc.
A report published by TRAI in January 2021, earlier said that the Telecom company Vi had added more subscribers to their user base but the most recent news suggests that the company has lost around 2.3 million users in their user base. Let’s look at the reasons for the changes in data.
Vodafone Idea Limited is a merged entity. It is an Indian telecommunication company with its headquarters in Mumbai and Gandhinagar. The company is the third largest mobile telecommunication network in India and is the sixth largest mobile telecommunications network in the world.
In the year 2018 Vodafone India and Idea cellular underwent a merger and the company was called as Vodafone Idea Limited. Currently, Vodafone holds a 45.1% stake in the company and Ravinder Takkar is the current CEO of the company.
In September 2020 the company had formed a new brand called as Vi. This is a combined brand of the two entities Vodafone India and Idea Cellular. The aim was to build a unified brand from two different companies.
After the merger in August 2020 Vi had lost a significant number of gross and active subscribers. Vodafone and Idea operated as two different entities until September 2020.
Vi also provides services such as IoT, Mobile payments, entertainment, and enterprise offerings. The services are accessible through both digital mediums and retail outlets across the country. Vi has a distribution reach of 1.7 million retail outlets and a broadband network of 340,000 sites.
In the mobile network services, Vi offers 2G, 4G, 4G+, VoLTE, and VoWiFi services across Pan India. Vi provides Wi-Fi and hotspot services in major cities across the country which include Bangalore, Mumbai, and Pune with more than 200 locations.
According to reports in January, Vi had added a user base of around 1.7 million in January 2021 and this was the first time in the last 15 months the company has added subscribers to its user base. Also its competitors, Bharti Airtel added a user base of 5.9 million subscribers and Jio which added about 1.95 million subscribers during January 2021.
According to the report of the Telecom Authority of India (TRAI) in January 2021, Vi had an active user base of 256.3 million which is 89.63 percent of their total users.
Revised Data by TRAI
Recently the Telecom Authority of India (TRAI) released a revised telecom subscription data for January 2021. The revised Telecom subscription data showed that the company Vi had actually lost 2.3 million subscribers than gaining 1.7 million in January 2021.
The company Vodafone Idea has acknowledged earlier about its error in the numbers provided to Telecom Authority of India (TRAI) that the company had added 1.7 million subscribers in the month of January 2021.
TRAI had examined through the numbers and identified that it was a non-intentional error that was not done through a deliberate planning. TRAI confirmed that the error had taken place by mistake.
Vi had told the TRAI that it had added a user base of around 3.7 million from Uttar Pradesh west telecom circle alone. There is a total of 22 telecom circles in India and the company has reported that it lost subscribers in 18 telecom circles and gained subscribers in the rest of 4 telecom circles.
Vi had sent the correct numbers to TRAI. Vi had noted on its website saying that they had found an unintentional error on their subscriber data for January 2021 which was submitted to TRAI. They also said that they had corrected the error and had reported the revised data to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).
Corrected Figures by TRAI
As per the corrected figures of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Vi had lost 2.3 million wireless users in the month of January 2021. Whereas its competitors Airtel gained 5.9 million subscribers and Reliance Jio had gained 2 million subscribers.
Reliance Jio had the highest wireless subscriber numbers with a base of 410.7 million and Airtel in the second position with a subscriber number base of 344.6 million. Vi had taken the third position with a total subscriber number of 281.9 million.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India had reported that Vi had the highest upload speed in the month of February 2021. Vodafone India’s upload speed for the month of February 2021 was 7.2 Mbps which was 6.7 in January 2021.
Idea Cellular upload speed for the month of February 2021 was 6.4 Mbps which was around 6 Mpbs in January 2021. Vodafone India and Idea Cellular was also ranked as the best in the TRAI’s report for voice call quality charts of February 2021.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) considers the company as two separate entities in its portals for My Calls and MySpeed even after the merger of both Vodafone India and Idea Cellular.
FAQ
Will Idea Vodafone survive?
Rohan Oza, an american businessman and investor believes that Vodafone will survive. “It is unlikely that the company will go bust, as it is in the interest of the government to continue with three players in the market.
What is the future of Vodafone idea?
As reporyed by Goldman sachs, Vodafone Idea could potentially save ₹58 billion (5,800 crore) in cash flows annually if the AGR liability were lowered to its self-assessed value.
Is Vodafone shutting down in India?
Vodafone Idea, India’s third-largest service provider, plans to shut down its 3G network later in 2021.
Conclusion
Vi has been rolling out various strategies and campaigns to capture the market to increase its subscriber base. We will have to wait and see what is going to happen in the future regarding the increase or decrease of Vi’s subscriber base.
Kumar Mangalam Birla is an Indian businessperson who is serving as the Chairman of Aditya Birla Group and Vodafone Idea Limited. He is the chancellor of the Birla Institute of technology & Science. He also serves as the Chairman of the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, and Rhodes India Scholarship Committee for Oxford University. He is is an honorary fellow of London Business School and serves on its Asia Pacific Advisory Board. As of January 2021, he has an estimated net worth of $10 billion.
Kumar was born to a Marwari family in Kolkata and raised in Mumbai. He is a fourth-generation member of the Birla family. His father, Aditya Birla was the former chairman of the Aditya Birla Group. The Birla family is running the business since 1857.
Kumar Mangalam Birla- Education
Kumar attended his high school from Syndenham College of Commerce and Economics. He received his bachelor’s degree from H.R. College of Commerce and Economics of the University of Bombay.
He further pursued Masters of Business Administration (MBA) from London Business School, from where he has been conferred as the honorary fellow. He is also Chartered Accountant from Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI).
Kumar Mangalam Birla- Professional Life
At age 28, Kumar sat at the position of the Chairman of Aditya Birla Group, after the death of his father in 1995. He has been reaping the company through his exceptional guidance and experience. He is also serving as the Chairman of Vodafone Idea Limited, an Indian telecom operator.
His net worth reduced to $6 billion between the year 2017 and 2019, he reportedly lost $3.1 billion. The foremost reason for this loss is “financial distress” that Vodafone Idea Limited has experienced during the steep decline in the shares of flagship companies that produce chemicals, metals and cement.
Kumar is serving as the Chairman of Aditya Birla Group since 1995. The company is headquartered in Worli, Maharashtra, India. Under the leadership of Kumar, the company has experienced an increase in its annual turnover from $3.33 billion in 1995 to $48.3 billion in 2019.
The Birla family is inheriting the business since 1857, founded by Seth Shiv Narayan Birla. The Indian multinational conglomerate operates in 34 countries with more than 120,000 employees across diverse sectors including, agri, carbon black, cement, chemicals, finance, mining, metals, retail, pulp & fibre, telecommunications and textile.
| Subsidiaries of Aditya Birla Group |
|—|—|
| UltraTech cement |
| Grasim Industries |
| Vodafone Idea |
| Hindalco Industries |
| Aditya birla Fashion and Retail |
| Birla Sun Life Asset Management |
| Domsjo Fabriker |
Kumar is serving as the Chairman of Vodafone Idea Limited (VI), headquartered in Mumbai and Gandhinagar. It is an Indian telecom operator and a subsidiary of Aditya Birla Group. As of 2020, Vodafone holds a 45% stake in VI and Aditya Birla Group holds a 26% stake.
As of November 2020, Vodafone Idea has a subscriber base of 289.9 million and thus became third largest mobile telecommunications network in India and sixth largest mobile telecommunications network in the world.
Kumar Mangalam Birla- Controversies
Kumar’s name was once dragged into an infamous political scandal called Indian coal allocation scam that trailed its origin to the illegal allocation of coal blocks between 2004 and 2009. In 2013, the CBI accused him of influencing the coal security then in getting the block for Hindalco, when it was only allocated to public sector, Neyveli Lignite and Mahanadi Coalfields in 2005.
Eventually, Kumar met Parekh and he helped him out as the prompt decision of the screening committee inverted and Hindalco was affixed along with the two. However, there was a sharp fall in the shares of Birla’s companies. Hindalco lost 5% before recovering. The CBI filed closure report against Birla in 2014.
Vodafone idea merger has rebranded and has revealed its new integrated brand identity – Vi. The new branding has been updated on the website and app, and will make its way to all products including SIM cards, bills, billboards, and more. The telecom companies merged on 31 August 2018 and was renamed as Vodafone Idea Limited. The company said it will continue to invest in 4G wireless technology, which now reaches more than 1 billion people in India
The move comes days after the Supreme Court’s verdict on the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues case and Vodafone Idea declared its intention to raise fresh capital of up to Rs 25,000 crore to pay off the hefty dues owed to the government. It plans to raise up to Rs 15,000 crore through debentures and an equal amount by issuing shares and warrants.
Ravinder Takkar, MD and CEO at Vodafone Idea Limited, said,
“Vodafone Idea came together as a merged entity two years ago. We have since then focuses on integrating two large networks, our people, and processes. And today I am delighted to present Vi, an brand that will bring important meaning to lives of our customers. Indians are optimistic and want to get ahead in life. They would love a credible partner to help them on this journey. Vi’s positioning is built around this promise and will focus on meeting the customer needs to help them thrive.”
Vodafone Idea, once the largest telecom operator in the country with over 400 million subscribers, has lost more than 100 million subscribers to new comer Jio in recent years. Vodafone Idea lost 4.7 million customers in May alone, while market leader Reliance Jio added 3.7 million. The Indian unit of Vodafone had a gross debt of 1.19 trillion Indian rupees as of June end. Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel had lost around 47 lakh wireless subscribers each in May 2020, according to the Telecom Authority of India data released in August.
Vodafone-Idea Merger new logo VI
Brand name Changes in the past
Voda-India’s Previous Brand Names
Max Touch
Orange
Hutch
Vodafone
Idea’s Previous Brand Names
Birla AT&T
Birla Tata and AT&T
Idea Cellular
Vodafone idea share price
Shares of the telecom company rose by over 4 per cent after the rebranding plan was made public.
Vodafone-idea are preparing themselves for telecom battle. Vodafone Idea’s AGR dues are pegged at Rs 50,399 crore, of which it has paid Rs 7,854 crore. Its dues are of a combination of two telecoms which are much higher than Bharti’s. The Telecom company is also planning to Increase tariffs which willhelp them to improve its average revenue per user, which is presently at Rs 114.
