Govt gives final nod to Vodafone-Idea merger, to form India’s largest telecom operator

<p>The government on Thursday gave its final approval to the <strong>mega merger of Vodafone and Idea Cellular</strong> which will <strong>create the country&rsquo;s largest mobile operator</strong> with<strong> 35% market share</strong> and around<strong> 430 million subscribers</strong>.</p> <p>The move comes just days after <strong>Idea Cellular</strong> and <strong>Vodafone India</strong> made a joint payment of Rs 7,268.78 crore &lsquo;under protest&rsquo; to the <strong>Department of Telecom (DoT)</strong> for merging their mobile businesses.</p> <p>A senior DoT official privy to the development said that the final approval has been accorded to the merger today and the entities will now approach <strong>Registrar of Companies (RoC)</strong> for stipulated filings for approval, completing the last leg of formalities.</p> <p><strong>DoT </strong>gave conditional nod to the merger on July 9 2018 and asked the two firms to meet the demand raised for taking the merger on record.</p>