Vodafone Idea to launch a single brand ‘Vi

Vodafone Idea Limited informed on Monday that after almost two years of merging as a single entity, it will now also have a single brand name. The company has announced the new brand to be called ‘Vi’ (read as ‘we’). The company believes that this integration of two brands is the largest telecom integration in the world.

India is the world’s second-largest market in terms of total internet users. Vodafone Idea Ltd has been trying hard to save and increase its market for the past few years. The major overhangs for the company have been the AGR case and the increased competition from the newer entrant-Reliance Jio.

Meanwhile, Supreme Court recently allowed the telecom companies for staggered payment of adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues over the next 10 years. The 10-year payment timeline will begin from April 1, 2021. Telecom companies will submit an undertaking to pay the AGR dues as per Supreme Court order and in line with this, would pay 10 per cent upfront. This gave some relief to the telecom operators like Vodafone Idea as it has the largest dues among the top three telecom operators.

Over the past three years from FY18 to FY20, Vodafone Idea has witnessed a reduction in its subscriber base, which was approximately 438 million in FY18 to 319 million in FY20. Due to this, the company lost its rank one position in FY18 and slipped to the third position in FY20. Thereby, the company has also seen a reduction in its market cap on BSE from Rs 40,749 crore in September 2018 to Rs 34,511 crore in September 2020.