Idea Cellular

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This article is about the previous Indian mobile telecommunications company supported by Aditya Birla Group. For the successor (and current) company, see Vodafone Idea.
Idea Cellular Limited
FormerlyBirla Communications Limited (1995-1996)
Birla AT&T Communications Limited (1996-2001)
Birla Tata AT&T Communications Limited (2001-2002)
Company typePublic
ISININE669E01016
IndustryTelecommunications
Founded1995; 31 years ago (1995)
FounderAditya Birla Group
DefunctAugust 31, 2018 (2018-08-31) (as a company) September 7, 2020 (2020-09-07) (as a brand)
FateMerged with Vodafone India into Vodafone Idea
SuccessorVodafone Idea[1]
HeadquartersGandhinagar, Gujarat, India[2]
Area served
India
Key people
ProductsMobile telephony, wireless broadband
RevenueIncrease ₹36,162.54 crore (US$4.3 billion) (2016)[3]
Increase ₹12,180.67 crore (US$1.4 billion) (2016)[3]
Increase ₹2,728.13 crore (US$320 million) (2016)[3]
Total assetsIncrease ₹98,577.16 crore (US$12 billion) (2016)
Total equityIncrease ₹27,262.46 crore (US$3.2 billion) (2016)
Owner
Members220.00 million (June 2018)
ParentAditya Birla Group

Idea Cellular was an Indian telecommunications company based at Mumbai, Maharashtra.[4] It was an integrated GSM operator and had 220.00 million subscribers as of June 2018.[5]

In 2018 Idea Cellular merged with Vodafone India into Vodafone Idea.[6]

History

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Idea Cellular was incorporated as Birla Communications in 1995 after GSM licenses were won in Gujarat and Maharashtra circles. The company name was changed to Idea Cellular and the brand Idea was introduced in 2002 after a series of name changes following mergers and joint ventures with Grasim Industries, AT&T Corporation and Tata Group.[7] Following the exit of AT&T Corporation and Tata Group from the joint venture in 2004 and 2006 respectively, Idea Cellular became a subsidiary of Aditya Birla Group.[8] Malaysia based Axiata had bought around 20% stake in the company in 2008 for US$2 billion.[9]

Idea previously bought a 40.8% stake in Spice Telecom, for over ₹2,700 crore.[10]

Merger with Vodafone India

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The entry of Jio in 2016 had led to various mergers and consolidations in the Indian telecom sector.[11] It was announced in March 2017 that even Idea Cellular and Vodafone India would be merged. 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 [1] The merger was completed on 31 August 2018, and the newly merged entity was named Vodafone Idea.[12][13][14][15] 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.[15]

On 7 September 2020, Vodafone Idea unveiled this new brand identity, Vi, which involved the integration of the company's erstwhile separate brands Vodafone India and Idea Cellular into one unified brand.

Operations

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In the 2010 3G spectrum auction, Idea paid ₹57.68 billion (US$680 million) for spectrum in 11 circles.[16] After the launch of MNP in India, Idea further strengthened its customer base because it was the mobile network with most net port-ins.[17]

Radio frequency summary

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Idea Cellular owned spectrum in 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz and 2500 MHz bands across the country.[18]

Telecom circle coverage E-GSM
900MHz
Band 8 		GSM / LTE-FDD
1800MHz
Band 3 		UMTS
2100MHz
Band 1 		LTE-TDD
2300MHz
Band 40 		LTE-TDD
2500MHz
Band 41
Delhi Yes Yes Yes No Yes
Mumbai Yes Yes Yes No Yes
Kolkata Yes Yes Yes No Yes
Andhra Pradesh & Telangana Yes Yes Yes No Yes
Gujarat Yes Yes Yes No Yes
Karnataka Yes Yes Yes No No
Maharashtra & Goa Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Tamil Nadu Yes Yes Yes No No
Haryana Yes Yes Yes No Yes
Kerala Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Madhya Pradesh
Punjab Yes Yes Yes No Yes
Rajasthan Yes Yes Yes No Yes
Uttar Pradesh (East) Yes Yes Yes No Yes
Uttar Pradesh (West) Yes Yes Yes No Yes
West Bengal Yes Yes Yes No Yes
Assam No Yes Yes No Yes
Bihar & Jharkhand No Yes Yes No Yes
Himachal Pradesh No Yes Yes No Yes
Jammu and Kashmir No Yes Yes No Yes
North East No Yes Yes No Yes
Odisha Yes Yes Yes No Yes

Note: The above table contains Vodafone Idea radio frequency details because they used to share their networks with each other via ICR (intra-circle roaming agreement) in some circles. For example, Idea had started giving its customers in Delhi access to 4G services in May 2018 via the Vodafone network.[19][20]

See also

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References

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  15. ^ a b Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).[permanent dead link]
  16. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
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Further reading

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  • Lua error in Module:Official_website at line 94: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
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