Vodafone Idea to pare 16,000 distributors and 2,000 retail stores

Vodafone Idea is in the process to reduce the number of its distributors by 16,000, and branded stores by 2,000, by the end of this financial year, a company document said. The company plans to reduce the number of its distributors from around 43,000 to 27,000 by December.

It has around 6,000 branded retail stores, which it plans to cut to 4,000 by March 2019, it said. The company also plans to reduce the number of its call centres to 38 from 82 by March 2019 as part of its integration plan. Vodafone Idea expects to achieve business integration by March 2021.

While Vodafone Idea is the largest telecom operator in the country, it continues to be under debt burden of around Rs 1.2 trillion, and has been losing mobile customers.

The company reported a consolidated loss of Rs 49.73 billion for the quarter-ended September in its maiden financial results after the merger.