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Idea cellular is a wireless telephony company operating in various states in India. It initially started in 1995 as a join venture between the Tatas, Aditya Birla Group and AT&T by merging Tata Cellular and Birla AT&T Communications.

Initially having a very limited footprint in the GSM arena, the acquisition of Escotel in 2004 gave Idea a truly pan-India presence covering Maharashtra (excluding Mumbai), Goa, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh (East and West), Haryana, Kerala, Rajasthan and Delhi (inclusive of NCR).

The company has its retail outlets under the "Idea n' U" banner. The company has also been the first to offer flexible tarrif plans for prepaid customers. It also offers GPRS services in urban areas.

Contents 1 Holding 2 Subscriber Base 3 References 4 External links

Initially the Birlas, the Tatas and AT&T Wireless each held one-third equity in the company. But following AT&T Wireless' merger with Cingular Wireless in 2004, Cingular decided to sell its 32.9% stake in Idea. This stake was bought by both the Birlas at 16.45% each.

Tata's foray into the cellular market with its own subsidiary, Tata Indicom, a CDMA-based mobile provider, cropped differences between the Tatas and the Birlas. This dual holding by the Tatas also became a major reason for the delay in Idea being granted a license to operate in Mumbai. This was because as per Department of Telecom (DOT) license norms, one promoter could not have more than 10% stake in two companies operating in the same circle and Tata Indicom was already operating in Mumbai when Idea filed for its license.

The Birlas thus approached the DOT and sought its intervention, and the Tatas replied by saying that they would exit Idea but only for a good price. On April 10, 2006, the Aditya Birla Group announced its acquisition of the 48.18% stake held by the Tatas at Rs. 40.51 a share amounting to Rs. 44.06 billion. While 15% of the 48.14% stake was acquired by Aditya Birla Nuvo, a company in-charge of the Birlas' new business initiatives, the remaining stake was acquired by Birla TMT holdings Private Ltd., an AV Birla family owned company.Currently, Birla Group holds 98.3% of the total shares of the company.

Idea is currently also working in another 3 circles in India to make itself a pan-India player. The new circles added will be Rajasthan, Punjab and UP (East). Idea will be launched in the new circles by November.

Idea's subscriber base as of February 2007 according to the Cellular Operators Association of India is as follows

• Delhi - 1,427,107
• Maharashtra - 2,807,982
• Gujarat - 1,715,774
• Andhra Pradesh - 1,737,116
• Kerala - 1,482,799
• Haryana - 834,786
• Uttar Pradesh (West) - 1,563,997
• Uttar Pradesh (East) - 305,712
• Madhya Pradesh - 1,328,780
• Rajasthan - 235,330

Totalling to 13,625,355 or 11.8% of the total 105,425,183^[1] mobile connections in India.

• Idea Cellular Official Site
• Aditya Birla Group Website