"You are asking me whether M&A rules will change? I think so. I think they will change pretty quickly because there is no one in the country who seems to be having a different opinion about it, and a consultation paper to this effect is already out." Sanjeev Aga, MD, Idea Cellular, is quite certain that the prevailing market conditions and the consensus have made inevitable a change in India's policy on Telecom Mergers & Acquisitions. In late 2008, India's Department of Telecom controversially handed out a number of telecom licenses, and the price war that has ensued threatens the viability of telecom businesses in the country. "But even assuming the rules don't change immediately," Aga said during the companys investor conference call, "eventually economics will cause them to change so my view is that the M&A rules will indeed change[...]In our company's view we believe that the consolidation is going to happen much more rapidly than people expect because the issue is not liquidity but viability. But will Idea be an acquirer or be acquired? Aga said that he can't answer for the shareholders of Idea, but he thinks that being acquired is unlikely for Idea. Interestingly, given that Idea will be a pan-India operator by the end of this year, he doesn't see the company acquiring telecom operator for anything, brand or subscribers, except for spectrum. On Tariff Wars "I frankly don’t know too much about circle level tariffs and don’t make too much about the per second billing.…
