RESTRUCTURING OF INDIAN TELECOM INDUSTRY : EMERGENCE OF RELIANCE JIO AND M&A CASES INVOLVING AIRTEL-TELENOR AND VODAFONE-IDEA

Abstract

Mobile industry has become one of the fastest developing industries in India. Indian mobile subscribers have become used to touch mobiles within a relatively short span of time. India is the second biggest market in the world for mobile services and it is a good avenue for network providers from India and abroad. Global providers too have occupied and earned reasonable market shares in the Indian mobile industry. Jio’spractically free offers have created fundamental changes in consumer behavior along with competitor strategies. The moves made by this new entrant has affected the equilibrium in the mobile industry and made rival players vulnerable, so much so that many of them have resorted to mergers and acquisitions to avoid bleeding away to bankruptcy. All major players in the industry, e.g. Airtel, Idea, Vodafone etc. are strategically responding to Jio’s market penetration move. To come to a position of strength in the industry, Idea and Airtel are entering into ventures with Vodafone and Telenor respectively. Through this paper, the author wishes to make an attempt to examine the impact of Jio on competitive strategies of rivals in the Indian telecom industry