The Indian government has effectively taken a controlling stake in Vodafone’s Indian affiliate (Vodafone Idea (VI). Its customer base India was up to 400M customers (#3) with a current list of ~270M resulting from intense competition with Reliance Jio (450M) and Bharti Airtel (350M). The #4 carrier is Indian government owned BSNL with ~117M customers.
It is yet unknown whether this ends the last major foreign carrier’s invasion of the Indian wireless marketspace. This is a cautionary tale where foreign investment has become a quagmire of losses, disappointments, and government market intervention for Vodafone. Even after Vodafone’s blockbuster reward of USD $130B being bought out of US Verizon in 2013, success in some markets has been elusive.
Intense competition in the Indian wireless market space has benefited consumers as the 2016 entry of Reliance Jio substantially disrupted pricing plans and came as growth in mobile Internet use took off. Subsequent growth in network capacity and Internet capabilities has seen a focus by governments to encourage advanced networks providing access at low costs.
Next Friday – How the Vodafone situation affects wireless equipment carriers
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