Vodafone Essar

Vodafone Essar, formerly known as Hutchison Essar, is a cellular operator in India that covers 23 telecom circles in India. It is based inMumbai.^[2] Vodafone Essar is the Indian subsidiary of Vodafone Group. Formerly, 33% share in the firm was owned by Essar Group. Vodafone Group bought out the 33% stake of Essar Group for $5 billion to became the sole owner of the firm. It is the second largest mobile phone operator in terms of revenue behind Bharti Airtel, and third largest in terms of customers.^[3] Vodafone had about 134.5 million customers as of February 2011.^[4]

On February 11, 2007, Vodafone agreed to acquire the controlling interest of 67% held by Li Ka Shing Holdings in Hutch-Essar for US$11.1 billion, pipping Reliance Communications, Hinduja Group, and Essar Group, which is the owner of the remaining 33%. The whole company was valued at USD 18.8 billion.^[5] The transaction closed on May 8, 2007. Despite the official name being Vodafone Essar, its products are simply branded Vodafone. It offers both prepaid and postpaid GSM cellular phone coverage throughout India with good presence in the metros.

Vodafone Essar provides 2.75G services based on 900 MHz and 1800 MHz digital GSM technology. Vodafone Essar will launch 3G services in the country in the January-March quarter of 2011 and plans to spend up to $500 million within two years on its 3G networks