Vodafone-Idea merger boon for Tamil Nadu

As per Faisal Kawoosa, Principal Analyst, Industry Intelligence Practice at CyberMedia Research, a market research firm specialising in IT and Telecom, among many other verticals, “This move will change the overall mobile subscriber demographic in the state, where previously Aircel was the leading operator.  

The merger, in one swift move makes Vodafone and Idea the No 1 network across many circles beating out the likes of Airtel. The combined subscriber base of the two operators outnumbers that of Airtel now. What will work in Tamil Nadu for the merger is the two companies’ mix of customers. Idea is strong in the price sensitive bracket (prepaid) whereas Vodafone excels in the post-paid format.” 

He added that going by last year’s figures and this new merger, a tentative and conservative forecast would suggest that Vodafone would capture 27 to 28 per cent of the TN market, closely followed by Aircel at 26 to 27 per cent and Airtel at about 20 per cent. 

Faisal says exposure to 4G technology could also increase in TN. The researcher remarked that most Jio users were already subscribers of one or the other operator. So, what does this translate for services to customers in TN? Varun Krishnan, the founder of FoneArena.com, and a tech blogger tells us, “I am anticipating service levels to improve over the next few months as increased investments in resources and event spectrum is bound to take place. 

The newly merged operator will certainly try to improve on the shortcomings of its competitors whether it’s connectivity issues like call drops or even on the internet speeds and other parameters.”