Vodafone Idea Rebrands Itself As 'Vi', Share Price Rises By 4 Pc

NEW DELHI: Vodafone Idea Ltd on Monday unveiled a new brand identity on Monday which will be called as ''Vi'', read 'we'. The company has 280 million subscribers as of June.

Vodafone Idea's share price rose as much as 4 per cent, compared with a 0.06 per cent drop in the Nifty 50, after the rebranding was announced today.

"A brand with its eyes set on the future, it is built for and around customers... The integration of two brands is a culmination of the largest telecom integration in the world," VIL said in a statement communicating its new unified consumer brand identity and positioning through a virtual launch on Monday.

Talking about the new brand, Ravinder Takkar, MD and CEO, Vodafone Idea said, "Vodafone Idea came together as a merged entity two years ago. We have, since then focussed on integrating two large networks, our people and processes."

"VIL is now leaner and agile, and the deployment of many principles of 5G architecture has helped us transform into a future-fit, digital network for the changing customer needs.

"The new brand launch signifies our desire to not just deliver, but delight our customers, stakeholders, communities and our employees and signals our passion and commitment to be a Champion for Digital India," Takkar added.

The rebranding follows after the company just last week approving fund-raising plans of up to Rs 25,000 crore through a combination of equity and debt instruments, to keep the company afloat.

Following Reliance's 'Jio' entry in 2016, VIL has suffered massive losses, also losing subscribers and Average Revenue Per User (ARPU), and faces outstanding Adjusted Gross revenue (AGR) dues of about Rs 50,000 crore, of which the company has paid Rs 7,854 crore to the Department of Telecom so far.