What will happen...?

Vodafone, world's largest mobile telephony player has successfully bid for the Hong-Kong based Hutchison Group's pie in it's Indian subsidiary Hutch Telecom for a whopping $19.3 billion dollars!!

Arun Sarin, the Indian-born head of Vodafone will be a happy man to finally have found a foothold in the most happening mobile market in the world. $19.3 billion is a hefty valuation, considering how hot the indian telephony market is. And as days progress, the media frenzy around this deal will only be upped as there are rumors surrounding that Hindujas infact bid more than $19b, but couldn't ink the deal.

As you may know by now, the Aditya Birla owned Idea Cellular is going the IPO way today with a price band of Rs. 75 to Rs. 85, which definitely is going to increase, thanks to this billion dollar deal.

Now, behind all these numbers, what's there in it for us subscribers?? With Vodafone's full roll-out in India, one can expect more telephony based services and an expected early bidding process by the Govt. over the much anticipated 3G spectrum. Vodafone will surely be looking to leverage the premium price paid for this deal, but I doubt if it will have a direct impact on subscribers, as Indian mobile telephony market is still very competitive.

There are only a handful of GSM/CDMA operators in India today vis-a-vis 3-4 years ago, thanks to multi-billion dollar M&As leading to consolidation. Airtel is still the numero uno, followed by Reliance, Hutch, Idea, and the Tatas.

But the ultimate question that lingers around my mind is, will they go for a brand change, from Hutch to Vodafone. Remember that a lot of marketing dollars has been spent in creating a brand image for Hutch. The Hutch ads are still a favorite among all classes of people, the one with the dog and the kid!! Vodafone is a relatively new name for Indians, and expect for those who follow international business or watch a lot of English Premier League or other Football leagues, Vodafone will sound alien to them.