Abstract

In 2017, the Indian telecom industry went into a consolidation phase, witnessing a number of mergers and acquisitions. This was especially the case after the entry of Reliance Jio in late 2016, which disrupted the industry with its significantly low charges. This case study discusses one of the acquisition deals where India’s leading telecom operator, Bharti Airtel, acquired the Consumer Mobile Businesses (CMB) of Tata Group, the leading business house in India. The debt and cash-free deal helped not only Tata Group to cut down on its losses but also Bharti Airtel to acquire 44 million customers at one stroke. Experts opined that the benefits from the acquisition would not end the challenges facing Airtel and the company had to come up with a strategy to retain customers and hold on to its leading positing in the India telecom market.

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• Understand the development of the Indian telecom market
• Examine the rationale behind Tata’s CMB acquisition by Airtel
• Identify the issues and challenges faced by Airtel due to the acquisition
• Explore how Airtel could overcome these challenges and maintain its number one position in the Indian telecom industry

Keywords

Bharti Airtel; Merger; Tata’s Consumer Mobile Businesses (CMB); Tata Teleservices Limited (TTSL); Tata Teleservices Maharashtra (TTML); Reliance Jio; Tariff war; Spectrum debts; Industry consolidation; Telecom Industry