Vodafone and Idea are now ‘Vi’ (pronounced as “We”), as it looks for a fresh start after the mega-merger between Vodafone India operation and Idea Cellular back in 2018. It also marked the completion of the world’s largest network integration.
The telco has unveiled a new logo along with its latest brand slogan “Better and Brighter Tomorrow”. The company now has a new website – myvi.in, to where the Vodafone India and Idea Cellular official website are now being redirected. There is also the revamped mobile apps available for both Android and iOS smartphones. It’s OTT entertainment app has also been revamped to Vi Movies and TV (available on both Android and iOS).
“The brand integration not only marks the completion of the largest telecom merger in the world but also sets us on our future journey to offer world-class digital experiences to 1 Billion Indians on our strong 4G network,” commented Ravinder Takkar, MD & CEO, Vodafone Idea Ltd said.
As you may have read, the two telcos have completed its network integration and from now it will come under the single brand identity “Vi”. Both prepaid and postpaid customers would be now served through the “Vi” brand. Offline branding exercise is underway, as the telco is rebranding its official customer stores to ‘Vi Mini Stores’.
“With our new brand -Vi, we stand committed to partner the Government to accelerate India’s progression towards a digital economy, enabling millions of citizens to connect to the digital revolution and build a better tomorrow,” commented Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman, Aditya Birla Group and Vodafone Idea Ltd.
“This is an important next step to launch our new unified business under a new unified brand, Vi. Back in 2018, the combination of Vodafone India and Idea created the new champion for the government’s vision of Digital India. As the integration of the two business is complete, it’s time for a fresh start. That’s why we believe that now is the perfect time to launch Vi, one company which combines the strengths of Vodafone India and Idea. Vi’s focus will be to deliver to citizens and businesses in India a superior network experience, better customer service and leading products and services,” commented Nick Read Vodafone Group Plc CEO.
The rebranding move comes days after the Supreme Court verdict on the AGR case. Also, the telco was planning for the same, as in the previous month, it completely shifted Idea Nirvana postpaid customers to Vodafone RED branding.
Over the last two years even after the merger announcement, the two telcos Vodafone India and Idea Cellular were maintained as two different brands. Idea Cellular has a much better rural customer reach, whereas Vodafone was popular in the urban areas. As a combined entity and brand, the telco expects to bring in more subscribers to its fold.
Vodafone Idea was once the largest telecom operator in India with over 400 million subscribers but was de-throned shortly by Mukesh Ambani’s telecom venture, Reliance Jio. In recent years and previous month too, the telco has lost more than 100 million subscribers and regularly reporting revenue dip.