Vodafone India, Idea to form $23bn joint venture

After weeks of negotiation, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular on Monday reached an agreement to merge their operations into a $23.2 billion (€21.57 billion) joint venture.The combined entity will serve 395.2 million customers, according to the latest figures from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), putting it ahead of current market leader Bharti Airtel, which has 265.9 million customers. The venture will also hold 1,850 MHz of spectrum. However, it is expected that Vodafone a