Idea Cellular
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| Public Limited Company BSE: 532822 NSE: IDEA |
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| Industry | Telecom Services |
| Founded | 1995 |
| Headquarters | Mumbai, India[1] |
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Key people
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Kumar Mangalam Birla (chairman) |
| Products | Mobile telephony, wireless broadband |
| Revenue | ₹265 billion (US$4.0 billion) (2013–14)[2] |
| ₹19.68 billion (US$300 million) (2013–14) | |
| Total assets | US$5.334 billion (2010) |
| Members | 159.20 million[3] (April 2015) |
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Number of employees
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6,481 (2010) |
| Parent | Aditya Birla Group (49.05%) Axiata Group Berhad (19.96%) Providence Equity (10.6%) |
| Slogan | An idea can change your life |
| Website | www |
Idea Cellular, commonly referred to as Idea, is an Indian mobile network operator based in Mumbai, India. Idea is a pan-India integrated GSM operator offering 2G and 3G mobile services. Idea is India’s third largest mobile operator by subscriber base. Idea has a market share of 16.36% with 159.20 million subscribers as of April 2015.[3]
History[edit]
During its inception in 1995, Aditya Birla Group, Tata Group and AT&T Wireless each held one-third equity in the company. Following AT&T Wireless' merger with Cingular Wireless in 2004, Cingular decided to sell its 32.9% stake in Idea. This stake was bought by the remaining two stakeholders equally.[4] Tata forayed into the cellular market with its own subsidiary, Tata Indicom, a CDMA-based mobile provider and in April 2006, Aditya Birla Group announced the acquisition of the 48.18% stake held by Tata Group at INR 40.51 a share amounting to INR 44.06 billion with 15% of the stake acquired by Aditya Birla Nuvo and the remaining by Birla TMT holdings Private Ltd. both AV Birla family owned companies. Malaysia based Axiata bought a 19.96% stake in the company in 2009.[5]
Operations[edit]
Idea competes with other major mobile operators including Airtel, Vodafone, BSNL, Reliance Communications, Aircel, Uninor and Tata DoCoMo. On 19 May 2010, in the 3G spectrum auction Idea paid ₹ 5,768.59 crore for spectrum in 11 circles.[6] On 28 March 2011, Idea launched 3G services in Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.[7] The launch cities were Ahmedabad, Shimla Indore.
Idea currently supports up to 21.1 Mbit/s over 2G speeds of 256 kbit/s.[8] It also offers GPRS services in urban areas. On 23 November 2011, Idea Cellular launched two 3G handsets in India: Idea 3G smartphone blade and Idea 3G smartphone based on Android 2.2 Froyo.[9]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ "Idea Cellular – Cell Phone Services". Retrieved 28 June 2012.
- ^ "Consolidated Result". Retrieved 28 June 2012.
- ^ a b "Telecom Subscription data, January 2015" (PDF). TRAI. 16 June 2015. Retrieved 30 June 2015.
- ^ "Cingular Allows Agreement to Sell Stake in Indian Wireless Service Provider to Expire". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Retrieved 2015-06-07.
- ^ "Axiata sees long-term gains from India price war". Dow Jones Newswires (Total Telecom). 14 October 2009. Retrieved 14 October 2009.
- ^ Pahwa, Nikhil (19 May 2010). "India’s 3G Auction Ends; Operator And Circle-Wise Results". MediaNama.
- ^ "Idea Cellular launches 3G services from MP & Chhattisgarh". Indiainfoline.com. 28 March 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2012.
- ^ "3G Guide". Idea Celluar. Retrieved 21 March 2012.
- ^ "Idea launched 2 affordable Androids, rebrands ZTE Blade and Huawei Ideos X1 in India". TechIt.in. 23 November 2011.
External links[edit]
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- Companies based in Mumbai
- Telecommunications companies of India
- Axiata
- Aditya Birla Group
- Mobile phone companies of India
- Private equity portfolio companies
- Providence Equity Partners companies
- Internet service providers of India
- Companies established in 1995
- Companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange
- Indian brands
