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India: “No special treatment for Vodafone and Idea” says Telecom Minister

By  |  March 30, 2017

Government today said there will be no special treatment for Vodafone India and Idea Cellular which have decided to merge and the companies will have to comply with existing norms on spectrum, subscriber and revenue caps.

“They have to comply with the rules…there will be no special treatment,” Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha told reporters.

Sinha further said that there is no fear of cartelisation in the telecom sector in the wake of large number of mergers and acquisitions.

“After consolidation, there will still be 5-6 players in each service area. So, cartelisation is not possible. Also, there are guidelines on revenue cap, subscriber cap and spectrum cap which will ensure a healthy competition. We have taken all precautions”.

Britain’s Vodafone will merge its Indian subsidiary with local rival Idea Cellular within two years, Idea announced earlier on March 20.

Full Content: Economic Times

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