Vodafone Idea lives to see new day, ending Jio-Airtel duopoly fears

With no duopoly, Airtel and Jio will now concentrate on improving their bottom lines rather than playing the pricing game to target Vi customers or ensure its demise

The writing on the wall has changed. The Indian telecom sector is not, after all, becoming an inevitable Reliance Jio-Bharti Airtel duopoly.

Vodafone Idea (Vi) has got a four-year reprieve and it has a fighting chance, provided it concentrates on two key areas: Stemming the month-on-month subscriber loss (it has lost 20 million customers in Q2 to reach 253 million) and ensuring that 55 per cent of its customer base that is on 2G and 3G moves up to 4G. 

Vi’s decision to convert its interest payouts into a substantial 36 per cent equity in the company will help.

But the fact remains,