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Context is everything.
Detailed stories on technology startups, business and economic current affairs.
Detailed stories on technology startups, business and economic current affairs.
Editor's note: “Together for Tomorrow”—the tagline for Vi, the new unified brand name for Vodafone Idea Ltd, is one of hope. India’s No. 3 telecom operator is in a bind. Formed from the merger of the Aditya Birla Group’s Idea Cellular Ltd and Vodafone Group Plc’s Indian arm in August 2018, the struggling telco continues to lose subscribers—8 million in the last quarter—and revenue to its competition. Last month Vodafone Idea reported its ninth successive quarter in the red. Being the third wheel in a sector that several industry observers have described as a budding duopoly between Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd and Bharti Airtel Ltd is hard. In the 10th edition of Oversize last month, I had written about how Airtel, the second-largest telco in India, has been diversifying as it aims to transition from a traditional telecoms company into an enterprise technology and services provider. Airtel, as well as Vodafone and Idea, had been threatened by the meteoric rise of Reliance Jio, which triggered a price war that saw many operators shutting down or entering bankruptcy. Airtel, though, has decided to …
Editor's note: “Together for Tomorrow”—the tagline for Vi, the new unified brand name for Vodafone Idea Ltd, is one of hope. India’s No. 3 telecom operator is in a bind. Formed from the merger of the Aditya Birla Group’s Idea Cellular Ltd and Vodafone Group Plc’s Indian arm in August 2018, the struggling telco continues to lose subscribers—8 million in the last quarter—and revenue to its competition. Last month Vodafone Idea reported its ninth successive quarter in the red. Being the third wheel in a sector that several industry observers have described as a budding duopoly between Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd and Bharti Airtel Ltd is hard. In the 10th edition of Oversize last month, I had written about how Airtel, the second-largest telco in India, has been diversifying as it aims to transition from a traditional telecoms company into an enterprise technology and services provider. Airtel, as well as Vodafone and Idea, had been threatened by the meteoric rise of Reliance Jio, which triggered a price war that saw many operators shutting down or entering bankruptcy. Airtel, though, has decided to …
While the Rs 9,000 crore promoter investment in Q1 brings a measure of reassurance, investors will still have to wait for Jio and retail to work through their challenges.
FY26 numbers show that Airtel is stealing a march on its larger rival on most counts and is unrelenting in its ambition, casting a cloud on Jio’s valuation.
After a year of big investments, growing capabilities and uneven adoption, how companies use artificial intelligence will be a key focus in 2026.
While the Rs 9,000 crore promoter investment in Q1 brings a measure of reassurance, investors will still have to wait for Jio and retail to work through their challenges.
FY26 numbers show that Airtel is stealing a march on its larger rival on most counts and is unrelenting in its ambition, casting a cloud on Jio’s valuation.
After a year of big investments, growing capabilities and uneven adoption, how companies use artificial intelligence will be a key focus in 2026.
