Idea Cellular

Idea Cellular

Type	Public (BSE) & (NSE) [1]
Founded	1995
Headquarters	Santacruz East, Mumbai, India [2]
Key people	Kumar Mangalam Birla (Chairman) Sanjeev Aga (MD) Rajat Mukharjee (VP Corporate Affairs)
Industry	Telecommunications
Products	Mobile
Owner(s)	Aditya Birla Group [3]
Website	IdeaCellular.com

Idea Cellular is a wireless telephony company operating in various states in India. It initially started in 1995 as a joint venture among the Tatas, Aditya Birla Group and AT&T by merging "'Wings Cellular'" operating in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh (UP) West, Rajasthan and Tata Cellular as well as Birla AT&T Communications.

Initially having a very limited footprint in the GSM arena, the acquisition of Escotel in 2004 gave Idea a truly pan-India presence covering Maharashtra, Goa, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh (East and West), Haryana, Kerala, Rajasthan, Delhi (inclusive of NCR) and West Bengal.

The company has its retail outlets under the "Idea n' U" banner. The company has also been the first to offer flexible tariff plans for prepaid customers. It also offers GPRS services in urban areas.

Idea Cellular won the GSM Association Award for "Best Billing and Customer Care Solution" for 2 consecutive years.

Holding

Initially the Birlas, the Tatas and AT&T Wireless each held one-third equity in the company. But following AT&T Wireless' merger with Cingular Wireless in 2004, Cingular decided to sell its 32.9% stake in Idea. This stake was bought by both the Tatas and Birlas at 16.45% each.

Tata's foray into the cellular market with its own subsidiary, Tata Indicom, a CDMA-based mobile provider, cropped differences between the Tatas and the Birlas. This dual holding by the Tatas also became a major reason for the delay in Idea being granted a license to operate in Mumbai. This was because as per Department of Telecom (DOT) license norms, one promoter could not have more than 10% stake in two companies operating in the same circle and Tata Indicom was already operating in Mumbai when Idea filed for its licence.

The Birlas thus approached the DOT and sought its intervention, and the Tatas replied by saying that they would exit Idea but only for a good price. On April 10, 2006, the Aditya Birla Group announced its acquisition of the 48.18% stake held by the Tatas at Rs. 40.51 a share amounting to Rs. 44.06 billion. While 15% of the 48.14% stake was acquired by Aditya Birla Nuvo, a company in-charge of the Birlas' new business initiatives, the remaining stake was acquired by Birla TMT holdings Private Ltd., an AV Birla family owned company. Currently, Birla Group holds 49.1% of the total shares of the company. Malaysia based Axiata controls a 14.99% stake in the company.^[1]

Subscriber base

Idea's subscriber base as of July 2009 according to the [4] is as follows

• Maharashtra and Goa - 8077848
• Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh - 5677758
• Andhra Pradesh - 5528758
• Kerala - 4738070
• Kolkata -
• Gujarat - 4230479
• Uttar Pradesh (West) & Uttarakhand - 4602390
• Delhi - 2343017
• Haryana - 1701065
• Uttar Pradesh (East) - 2361070
• Rajasthan - 1603620
• Himachal Pradesh - 164571
• Mumbai - 1012152
• Bihar & Jharkhand - 1702584
• Tamilnadu - 225566
• Odisha - 164995
• Punjab (Spice) - 2566170
• Karnataka (Spice) - 1816711

Totalling to 48,516,824 or 14.90%(Approx.) of the total 325,701,124^[2] mobile connections in India.

References

External links

• Idea Cellular Official Site
• Aditya Birla Group Website
• Idea Cellular Blackout Days