Vodafone India Limited is a mobile telecommunications operating company of India. The company was founded in the year 1995. It was previously known as Idea Cellular Limited and in the year 2018; it has changed the name from Idea Cellular Ltd to Vodafone Idea Limited. The company provides 2G and 3G services, and now 4G services; prepaid and postpaid services and roaming services as well.
It also offers to interconnect services and long-distance services, data, enterprise and voice services, in addition to lots of value-added services, along with digital services, short messaging services, content solutions, and enterprise solutions. The company also does the business of handsets, mobile accessories, data cards and provides internet, payment banking, toll-free services, and mobile advertisement as well. Vodafone Idea Limited now has 334 million subscribers in an approx.
About Company Information:
The company, Idea Cellular Ltd, was slotted in the year 1995 with Birla Communications Ltd. In the year 1996, Birla Communications Ltd changed its name to Birla AT&T Communications Ltd. The company instigated its operating in Maharashtra and Gujarat Circle in the year 1997.
It had combined with Tata Cellular Ltd in the year 2000, and hence it had attained original license to trade in Andhra Pradesh Circle. The company purchased the RPG Cellular Limited and accordingly it also attained the license to trade in Madhya Pradesh (Chhattisgarh included) Circle in 2001. In the year 2002, the company changed its name from Birla AT&T Communications Ltd to Idea Cellular Ltd and also launched the brand name ‘Idea’.
In the year 2004, the company purchased Escotel Mobile Communications Ltd and consequently it was renamed as Idea Mobile Communications Ltd. The company was awarded for the Bill Flash service in Barcelona, Spain at GSM Association Awards in the year 2005. During 2006-2007, the company inaugurated the National Long Distance service to convey a part of its traffic. The company attained the United Access Services Licenses for the areas of Karnataka, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, North East, Kolkata, Orissa, Jammu & Kashmir, West Bengal, and Assam in February 2008. It expanded its pan-India existence by launching its services in Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Kolkata, Jammu & Kashmir, West Bengal, North East, and Assam services areas.
Spice Communications Ltd, which had licenses for National and International Long Distance operations and which used to operate in the Karnataka and Punjab service areas, was merged with Idea Mobile Communications Ltd on 1st March 2010. It launched the service of Mobile Number Portability (MNP), an initiative to convert the consumers of other communication services to the customer of the company while keeping their mobile number unchanged, on 20th January 2011. It gave a hike of customers. The company achieved the impressive World Communication Awards 2012(WCA) under the category of Best Brand Campaign at the award ceremony held in London.
The company, with the Department of Telecommunications, signed the Unified License and hence the company, for the postpaid subscribers, introduced buffet plans in the year 2013 which gave a huge benefit. The company won 900 MHz in case of Delhi, and 4G service in 8 deliberate markets in the year 2014. The multinational company Microsoft had fixed a deal with Idea Cellular for launching billing for customers on Windows Store for the subscribers of Idea in the year 2015. In the year 2016, the company initiated 4G services in Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, and North East Service Area.
The company also launched three brand new entertainment apps- Idea Music Lounge, Idea Movie Club and Idea Game Spark, which are very exciting for the customers, on 30th January 2017. The company announced its closure successfully for the placement of its competent institutions on 23rd February 2018. Idea’s net-debt will be decreased by Rs 6750 crore in an approx, due to the rise in the equity of Rs 3500 crore in conjunction with the concurring concoction of Rs 3250 crore by the promoter or the promoter group of Idea.
How Vodafone Idea Ltd is categorised as a Telecommunication Sector and Telecommunication- services Industry:
The Telecommunication sector is made up of firms that make communication feasible on a global scale. It can be through phone or the internet, through cables or airwaves, through wired or wireless. These organizations created the infrastructure that provides data in audio, words, voice or video which can be sent anywhere in the world. The largest companies in the communication sector are wireless operators, cable companies, satellite companies, and internet service providers.
Vodafone Idea Ltd comes under the TELECOM- Service industry. The telecommunications service industry is an attractive option for investors because it is an essential part of the global economy. Demand for telecommunications services continues regardless of fluctuations in the business cycle.
Vodafone Idea Ltd, Competitors and Sector Peers:
Accord Synergy Ltd - ACCSYN
Cistro Telelink Ltd - CISTEL
City Online Services Ltd - CITONL
Dhanus Technologies Ltd - DHATEC
Esskay Telecom Ltd - ESSKTE
Frog Cellsat Ltd - FROCEL
Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd - MAHATE
Nu Tek India Ltd - NUTEKI
OnMobile Global Ltd - ONMGLO
Quadrant Televentures Ltd - HFCINF
Reliance Communications - RCOM
Spice Communications Ltd [Merged] - SPICOM
Tata Communications Ltd - VIDSAN
Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Ltd - TAT182
Tejas Networks Ltd - TEJNET
Tulip Telecom Ltd - TULITS
Uniinfo Telecom Services Ltd - UNIITE
Vodafone Idea Ltd - IDECEL
