Can Voda Idea play on the front foot in a market fast resembling a duopoly?

The UK telco's rough ride in India started in 2009, over a retrospective tax demand that was set aside later, but it has lately been in the news for a variety of reasons

In August 2021, Nick Read, chief executive of Vodafone Plc at the time, did not mince his words while speaking about the India business in an earnings call. Replying to an analyst’s question on Vodafone Idea, a venture with the Aditya Birla Group that had piled on huge debts and worrisome losses, Read described it as a highly stressed situation that “they (Vodafone Idea) are trying to navigate… We, as a group, try to provide them as much practical support as we can, but I want to make it very clear, we are not putting any additional equity into India.’’