Vodafone-Idea: Will India's biggest telecom M&A disrupt Jio, the disrupter?

Vodafone in India faces a classic disrupter problem

Serving 400 million customers in a single market would seem an enviable position for any business. Vodafone’s $23.2 billion Indian merger will accomplish as much. The timing, however, looks potentially unfortunate.

Mobile markets everywhere have been rocked by cheap upstarts, including T-Mobile in the U.S., Iliad in France and Hong Kong group CK Hutchison’s Three unit in other European markets. But in India Reliance Industries has played the disrupter role with particular ferocity, launching a completely free service last September that has already amassed more than 100 million customers.

Vodafone, the number two player in the market, made a €5