20M113 - Collette D’souza

20M117 - Harshit Nahata

20M128 - Nikhil Anand
20M141 - Shivangi Arora
20M144 - Shweta Khonde
20M149 - Sparshith PS
 Vodafone Idea (VI)

Market Research
Introduction of the Company –
Proposal
Vodafone Idea Limited is India's biggest telecom provider with headquarters in Mumbai,
Maharashtra. The organization's vision is to create world-class digital experiences to
connect and inspire every Indian Group
to build aA2better tomorrow. As of December 2018,
Vodafone Idea has a share of 35.61% in India, with 418.745 million people using their
services, making it the most prominent mobile communications network in India and the
second-biggest versatile telecommunications network on the planet. Vodafone Idea has a
broadband network of 340,000 locales, a circulation reach of 1.7 million retail outlets.
On 31 August 2018, Vodafone India collaborated with Idea Cellular and was renamed
Vodafone Idea Limited. The combined entity, however, uses both the Idea and Vodafone
brands. The Vodafone Group holds a 45.1% stake in the consolidated organization, the
Aditya Birla Group has 26%, and the consumers will keep the remaining offers. Kumar
Mangalam Birla heads the merged organization as the chairman, with Balesh Sharma as the
CEO.

History –
On 20 March 2017, Idea and Vodafone India announced that their respective boards had
approved a merger of the two companies. The merger got approval from Department of
Telecommunications in July 2018. On August 30, 2018,
National Company Law Tribunal gave the final nod to the Vodafone-Idea merger The merger
was completed on 31 August 2018, and the newly merged entity is named Vodafone Idea
Ltd. The merger created the largest telecom company in India by subscribers and by
revenue. Under the terms of the deal, the Vodafone Group holds a 45.2% stake in the
combined entity, the Aditya Birla Group holds 26% and the remaining shares will be held by
the public.
Idea previously bought Spice Communications Ltd. Operating as Spice Telecom for over
2700 crores.

Product and Services Mix –

The idea is a PAN-India GSM operator offering 2G, 3G, and 4G (LTE) versatile mobile services
under Vodafone and Idea brands. Vodafone Idea likewise various services types including
Mobile recharges, loT, progressed enterprise services and entertainment, available through
digital channels just as on-ground touchpoints.
 YOU Broadband (a subsidiary of Vodafone Idea) offers fixed-line broadband (FTTH) and
voice services. (VoIP)

Geographical Areas covered –

Vi owns spectrum in 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz and 2500 MHz bands across
the country.

E-GSM/ GSM / UMTS / FD- TD-LTE

TD-LTE
Telecom FD-LTE FD-LTE LTE 2300MH
2500MHz
circle coverage 900MHz 1800MHz 2100MHz z
Band 41
Band 8 Band 3 Band 1 Band 40

Delhi

Mumbai

Kolkata

Chennai

Andhra
Pradesh & Telangana

Gujarat

Karnataka

Maharashtra & Goa

Tamil Nadu

Haryana

Kerala
 E-GSM/ GSM / UMTS / FD- TD-LTE
TD-LTE
Telecom FD-LTE FD-LTE LTE 2300MH
2500MHz
circle coverage 900MHz 1800MHz 2100MHz z
Band 41
Band 8 Band 3 Band 1 Band 40

Madhya
Pradesh & Chhattisgarh

Punjab

Rajasthan

Uttar Pradesh (East)

Uttar Pradesh (West)

West Bengal

Assam

Bihar & Jharkhand

Himachal Pradesh

Jammu and
Kashmir & Ladakh

North East

Odisha

Financial Results (2019 - 20) –

Q3 FY19: Vodafone Idea posted a loss of Rs 5,005.7 crore for the quarter finishing December
2018. The telco posted a loss of Rs 4,973.80 crore in the consecutive quarter ended
September 30, the principal quarterly income announced by the combined brand. The total
revenue was accounted for at Rs 11,982.8 center during the same quarter. The pay
increased by 52%, contrasted with Rs 7,878.6 crore in the past July-September quarter.

Sales Turnover Rs 446827 million

Profits Rs 7,49,557 million

Distribution Network –
Vodafone Idea is in the process of diminishing the number of its users by 16,000 and stores
by 2,000 before the end of this monetary year, a document by the company reported. The
organization plans to diminish the number of its distributors from around 43,000 to 27,000
by December.
It has around 6,000 marked retail stores, which it plans to slice to 4,000 by March 2019, it
said. The organization also plans to lessen its call centers' quantity to 38 from 82 by March
2019 as part of its collaboration plan. Vodafone Idea hopes to accomplish integration
coordination by March 2021.

AIRTEL
Company Background –
Established in the year 1995 by Sunil Bharti Mittal, the current Chairman and MD of Airtel.
Bharti Airtel is a flagship company of Bharti Enterprises. Bharti Airtel Limited, (commonly
known as Airtel), is India's second largest integrated and the first private telecom services
provider with services in all the telecom circles.
Bharti Airtel is structured into three SBU’s - Mobile service Tele media services, Enterprise
services and Digital TV services. Their mobile business provides mobile & fixed Wireless
service using GSM technology.

Geographical Areas covered –

While Airtel has presence across all over the country, it also has a network spanning across
50 countries and 5 continents. This is supported by a cable infrastructure of 30 cables
present internationally.

Services Provided –
B2C Services –
  Digital TV Services – PAN India DTH operations coverage across 639 districts
 Mobile Services including cellular services across 20* countries.
 Tele media Services – offers fixed telephony & broadband internet.
B2B Services –
 Voice Services
 Network Services
 Data and Application Based
 Data Centre based services
 Cloud Based services
 Digital Media Services

Financials (2019 – 20) –

Sales Turnover Rs 54,317.10 crores
Profits Rs 36,088.20 crores

JIO
Introduction –
Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited, Jio, is an Indian based telecommunications company and a
subsidiary of Jio Platforms, having its headquarters in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It hosts
a national LTE network with coverage across all 22 telecom circles. In contrast to its
competitors, it does not offer 2G or 3G services, and instead uses only voice over LTE to
provide voice service on its 4G network. Jio soft launched on 27 December 2015 with a beta
for partners and employees, and became publicly available on 5 September 2016.

Services Provided –

 Mobile broadband
 JioFiber
 LYF smartphones
 JioPhone
 Jionet Wi-Fi
 Jio digital and television service
 Jio TV
 Jio TV+

Geographical Location –
As on today, Jio services are available in cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Jaipur,
Hyderabad, Surat, Vadodara, Chennai, Noida, Ghaziabad, Bhubaneshwar, Varanasi,
Allahabad, Bengaluru, Surat, Agra, Meerut, Vizag, Lucknow, Jamshedpur, Haridwar, Gaya,
Patna, Port Blair, Punjab and also in some other states.

Financials (2019 – 20) –

Sales Turnover Rs 3,62,869 crores
Profits Rs 30,903 crores

Rebranding of VI
Vodafone and Idea’s merger in June 2018 created India’s biggest subscriber base of telecom
users at that point in time, however, the branding was on hold. Idea continued to cater the
rural user base, with customized plans and offerings, whereas Vodafone focused on the
urban users, with new plans such as Vodafone Red. Both Idea and Vodafone continued to
lose users, due to inadequate services and very poor network coverage and then came the
world’s largest telecom merger, and branding integration with the alliance of the networks,
billing, subscribers and branding of both Vodafone and Idea.

The new telecom brand was called Vi, denoting V from Vodafone and I from Idea and spelt
as ‘We’.

While the new entity is called Vi, it is much more than a simple abbreviation of Vodafone and
Idea. Explaining, Nair said, “The starting point was the abbreviation of Vodafone and Idea but
it was also about how it should be pronounced. We didn’t want it just to be about the ‘V’ and
‘I’ coming together but for it to reflect the power of the collective and collaboration. It is also
about the bonds that Indians share with their friends, families, community and businesses.
The new logo is a representation of all of that. From a design system, it has an inverted ‘I’
and a bold, mustard dot which we call the particle which is there to surprise and delight
people. So it is much more than just an abbreviation.”

While the colours of the old brands were Red and Yellow, both primary colours, the new
visual identity uses crimson and mustard. They wanted to create one brand that not just
carries forward the legacy but also is one that stretches across consumers and businesses,
classes and geographies and urban and rural. That led us to the positioning ‘Together for
Tomorrow’, which is meant for everybody. The core of the positioning is people are
optimistic and they want to get ahead in life. And they are seeking help to get ahead in this
journey, to realize their dreams and ambitions and they wanted to partner with them.

Problems in Rebranding
Vodafone Idea Ltd lost 5.7 million customers in the month of December, the highest since
March 2020. The operator has been consistently losing users over the past year as it
continues to make losses in its operations.

Vodafone Idea, which has now re-branded to Vi, is rapidly losing market share as rival
operators press on with investments into network rollout and upgradation. The operators
could lose 50-70 million subscribers in the next 12 months, after losing over 155 million
subscribers in the last nine quarters, according to analysts.
The operator's consolidated net loss rose to ₹6,438.8 crores in the third quarter ended
December 31, 2019, an increase from ₹5,004.6 crore posted during the corresponding
quarter of previous year.
Vodafone’s subscriber base fell to 304 million in Q3 from 311 million in Q2.

References –
https://www.cnbctv18.com/business/companies/vodafone-idea-to-announce-new-brand-identity-today-
6842751.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jio

https://blog.finology.in/market-news/vodafone-idea-rebranding-vi#:~:text=At%20a%20time%20when
%20customers,awareness%20about%20its%20new%20identity.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/business-news/vodafone-idea-rebrands-self-as-vi-in-fresh-
start/story-FKqRQ0jGaqh2PYnsttvIcN.html
https://www.orionators.com/rebranding-the-power-behind-the-new-face-of-vodafone-idea-merger/

https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/info-tech/vodafone-idea-loses-57-million-
customers-in-december/article33881098.ece
https://www.airtel.in/sustainability-file/our-services

https://www.vodafoneidea.com/investors/annual-reports