Vodafone, Idea merger plans leave Tata Tele in a fix

Tata Teleservices was earlier in talks with the UK telecom giant for a merger

The proposed plan by British telecom major Vodafone and Aditya Birla group’s Idea Cellular to merge their operations has Tata Teleservices in the lurch. Tata Teleservices was in talks with Vodafone for a merger that would have resulted in synergy gains of Rs 10,000 crore for both players.

Last week, Vodafone confirmed that it had initiated talks with the Birlas for a merger that would create India’s biggest mobile operator with over 382 million customers. The British company walked away from merger talks with the Tatas citing its own initial public offer plans.

Insiders said while Vodafone and Idea would