Vodafone-Idea set for the top, but will have to work hard to stay there

Meanwhile, the new player Reliance Jio has notched up a revenue market share of 15.4% in just 15 months of commercial operations

Vodafone and Idea Cellular, which are likely to complete the merger approvals soon, will together emerge as the country’s largest telecom operator, dethroning Bharti Airtel. However, retaining the top spot will not be easy for the merged entity as Airtel (with Telenor and Tata Teleservices acquisitions) is within a striking distance when it comes to the revenue market share, according to the latest data.

When the merger between the country’s second and third largest players was announced in March last year, it was a clear winner as the merged unit would have a revenue market share of about 41 per