Reliance Jio Prime services have helped recovery: Idea MD Himanshu Kapania
- Idea MD thanks Jio for 'recovery'.
- Meanwhile, Vodafone and Idea have announced a merger.
- Merger will create the country’s largest telco with 400 million customers
Follow“There is some degree of recovery which has started to happen in the industry with the announcement of charging and with some monetisation process that has started by the new entrant,” Idea managing director Himanshu Kapania told analysts on a conference call after the company announced merger with Vodafone in an all-stock deal.
Merger will create the country’s largest telco with 400 million customers and 42% revenue market share. Jio has netted over 100 million subscribers in less than six months of launch. Launched in September last year, Jio has rattled competition and is offering free data till end March. Last month, it announced the plan to start charging from next month.
“Now, there is an announcement by the new entrant that they are going to charge from April 1, we are also looking forward to the charge,” Kapania said. “We are very hopeful that market repairs will start and we believe that from March itself the repairs has started to kick in,” he added.
Kapania conceded that launch of Jio’s services last September hurt the numbers for the third and the fourth quarters. He expressed hope that the industry will return to double digit growth in the next 12-18 months.
Whether we love Jio or hate it, it's lucrative offers have compelled other telcos to offer the best deals possible to users. The Vodafone Idea merger will together make them the biggest telco in India. Reliance jio has set the pricing stage on fire, and the merger may ignite this war further to bring the best to users. More lucrative offers from telcos with each trying to offer an attractive tariff.
With input from PTI
