industry telecommunications headquarters mumbai maharashtra india services mobile telephony wireless broadband revenue 425 billion us 6.3 billion 2015 1 members 185.47 million 2 april 2015 parent vodafone group website www.vodafone.in vodafone mobile services limited is the second largest mobile network operator in india by subscriber base after airtel with a market share of 18.42 % . 3 it is headquartered in mumbai maharashtra . 4 it has approximately 185 million customers as of june 2015 . it offers both prepaid and postpaid gsm cellular phone coverage throughout india with better presence in the metros . vodafone india provides services on basis of 900 mhz and 1800 mhz digital gsm technology . vodafone india launched 3g services in the country in the january march quarter of 2011 and plans to spend up to 500 million within two years on its 3g networks . it has launched its 4g services in india starting from kochi in kerala in december 2015 and plans to expands its network to various other cities in the country . contents 1 history 1.1 vodafone purchases essar s stake 1.2 vodafone hutchison tax case 2 mobile services 2.1 3g 2.2 4g 2.3 m pesa 3 vodafone stores 4 subscriber base 5 awards and recognition 6 timeline 7 see also 8 references 9 external links history edit further information orange india and hutchison telecommunications international hutch logo until november 2005 hutch logo from november 2005 until acquisition by vodafone hutchison max telecom ltd. hmtl a joint venture between hutchison whampoa and the max group was established on 21 february 1992 . 5 the licence to operate in mumbai then bombay circle was awarded to hutchison max by the department of telecommunications dot in november 1994 . 6 the cellular service branded max touch was launched the same year . 7 hutchison max entered into the delhi telecom circle in december 1999 the kolkata circle in july 2000 and the gujarat circle in september 2000 . licences for these circles had initially been awarded by the dot in 1994 1997 and 1995 respectively . between 1992 and 2006 hutchison acquired interests in all 23 mobile telecom circles of india . 6 hmtl rebranded max touch as orange from 14 february 2000 . 8 france telecom now orange s.a. acquired the worldwide rights for the orange brand from vodafone in may 2000 and planned to enforce its ownership of the brand in india . they made an offer to purchase part of hutchison s india operations but hutchison india declined to sell . 9 hutchison retained the rights over the orange brand in india but had to pay a royalty to france telecom . 9 france telecom left the indian market in december 2004 . 10 11 12 hmtl was renamed hutchison essar limited hel in august 2005 . 13 in delhi uttar pradesh east rajasthan and haryana essar group was the major partner . but later hutch took the majority stake . by the time of hutchison telecom s initial public offering in 2004 hutchison whampoa had acquired interests in six mobile telecommunications operators providing service in 13 of india s 23 licence areas and following the completion of the acquisition of bpl mobile that number increased to 16 . in 2006 it announced the acquisition of a company essar spacetel a subsidiary of essar group that held licence applications for the seven remaining licence areas . initially the company grew its business in the largest wireless markets in india in cities like mumbai delhi and kolkata . in these densely populated urban areas it was able to establish a robust network well known brand and large distribution network all vital to long term success in india . then it also targeted business users and high end post paid customers which helped hutchison essar to consistently generate a higher average revenue per user arpu than its competitors . by adopting this focused growth plan it was able to establish leading positions in india s largest markets providing the resources to expand its footprint nationwide . in february 2007 hutchison telecom announced that it had entered into a binding agreement with a subsidiary of vodafone group plc to sell its 67 % direct and indirect equity and loan interests in hutchison essar limited for a total cash consideration before costs expenses and interests of approximately 11.1 billion . citation needed a you and i print advertisement of hutch featuring cheeka dog hutch was often praised for its award winning advertisements which all follow a clean minimalist look . a recurrent theme is that its message hi stands out visibly though it uses only white letters on red background . another successful ad campaign in 2003 featured a pug named cheeka following a boy around in unlikely places with the tagline wherever you go our network follows . the simple yet powerful advertisement campaigns won it many admirers . ads featuring the pug were continued by vodafone even after rebranding . the brand subsequently introduced zoozoos which gained even higher popularity than was created by the pug . vodafone s creative agency is o & m while harit nagpal was the marketing director during the various phases of its brand evolution . citation needed vodafone purchases essar s stake edit in july 2011 vodafone group bought the mobile phone business of its partner essar for 5.46 billion . this meant vodafone owns 74 % of essar . 14 on 11 february 2007 vodafone agreed to acquire the controlling interest of 67 % held by li ka shing holdings in hutch essar for us 11.1 billion pipping reliance communications hinduja group and essar group which is the owner of the remaining 33 % . the whole company was valued at usd 18.8 billion . 15 the transaction closed on 8 may 2007 . in april 2014 india based piramal group sold its 11 % stake in vodafone india to prime metals an indirect subsidiary of vodafone group . 16 vodafone hutchison tax case edit vodafone was embroiled in a 2.5 billion tax dispute with the indian income tax department over its purchase of hutchison essar telecom services in april 2007 . it was being alleged by the indian tax authorities that the transaction involved purchase of assets of an indian company and therefore the transaction or part thereof was liable to be taxed in india . 17 vodafone group plc. entered india in 2007 through a subsidiary based in the netherlands which acquired hutchison telecommunications international ltd s htil stake in hutchison essar ltd hel the joint venture that held and operated telecom licences in india . this cayman islands transaction along with several related agreements gave vodafone control over 67 % of hel and extinguished hong kong based hutchison s rights of control in india a deal that cost the world s largest telco 11.2 billion at the time . 18 in january 2012 the indian supreme court passed the judgement in favour of vodafone saying that the indian income tax department had no jurisdiction to levy tax on overseas transaction between companies incorporated outside india . however indian government thinks otherwise . it believes that if an indian company hutchison india ltd. conducts a financial transaction government should get its tax out of it . therefore in 2012 india changed its income tax act retroactively and made sure that any company in similar circumstances is not able to avoid tax by operating out of tax havens like cayman islands or lichtenstein . in may 2012 indian authorities confirmed that they were going to charge vodafone about 20000 crore us 3.3 billion in tax and fines . the second phase of the dispute is about to start . 19 the bombay high court on thursday directed the income tax appellate tribunal itat to hear a rs .8 500 crore transfer pricing tax dispute relating to the indian arm of vodafone group plc from 21 february on a daily basis till a final order is passed . citation needed mobile services edit 3g edit on 19 may 2015 the 3g spectrum auction in india ended . vodafone paid 11617.86 million the second highest amount in the auctions for spectrum in 9 circles . the circles it will provide 3g in are delhi gujarat haryana kolkata maharashtra & goa mumbai tamil nadu uttar pradesh east and west bengal . 20 on 16 march 2011 vodafone launched 3g services in uttar pradesh east in the city of lucknow . 21 it was the fifth private operator seventh overall to launch 3g services in the country following tata docomo reliance communications airtel and aircel . on 23 june 2011 vodafone launched 3g service in kerala by joining with idea in an intra circle roaming agreement . initially vodafone 3g services will be available in the following cities in kerala ernakulam aluva palakkad thrissur calicut koyilandy alappuzha cherthala malappuram and manjeri . on 28 june 2012 vodafone launched a new international roaming package under which the users shall have not to pay multiple rentals in the countries they are visiting . 22 4g edit on 8 december 2015 vodafone announced the roll out of its 4g network in india on 1800 mhz band starting from kochi kerala . m pesa edit m pesa branded as m paisa the paisa being the largely unused subunit of the indian rupee was launched in india 23 24 as a close partnership with hdfc bank in november 2011 . 25 development for the bank began as early as 2008 . the service continues to operate in a limited geographical area in india . vodafone india had partnered with both hdfc and icici 26 icici launched m pesa on april 18 2013 . 27 vodafone plans to rollout this service throughout india . 28 the user needs to register for this service by paying 100 rupees and there are charges levied per m pesa transaction . 29 30 they can get recharge mobiles and dth from m pesa and also they can transfer the money to other users and other banks also . vodafone stores edit as of 3 september 2013 update there were a total of 16 vodafone angel stores in 14 states all staffed entirely by women . stores currently operate in agra ahmedabad bhubaneshwar chennai delhi goa haryana hyderabad jaipur kerala kolkata lucknow mumbai mysore pune shillong vadodara and rajkot . 31 according to marten pieters managing director and ceo vodafone india the angel stores are a part of vodafone s commitment to provide our women employees with one of the most secure and productive work environment . additionally our women customers feel more welcomed while visiting the store . 32 subscriber base edit following is the vodafone india subscriber base statistics as on september 2014 . 33 subscriber base statistics as on september 2014 telecom cicle no . of subscribers gujarat 15 801 117 uttar pradesh east 14 526 236 maharashtra 12 977 123 west bengal 11 165 667 tamil nadu 9 777 927 rajasthan 8 565 366 uttar pradesh west 8 999 073 andhra pradesh 2 224 689 delhi 8 449 120 goa 7 134 576 karnataka 6 452 620 kerala 6 067 506 bihar 6 381 278 kolkata 4 084 284 punjab 4 309 853 haryana 4 437 015 madhya pradesh & chhattisgarh 4 101 877 chennai 2 091 411 odisha 2 789 575 assam north east 2 188 073 north east 928 563 jammu & kashmir 666 009 himachal pradesh 475 329 mumbai 6 160 353 total number of vodafone india subscribers 141 519 840 i.e. 21.54 % of the total 657 158 013 indian mobile phone subscribers . awards and recognition edit the brand trust report 34 2011 published by trust research advisory has ranked vodafone 35 as the 16th most trusted brand in india . timeline edit this section contains embedded lists that may be better presented using prose . you can help by converting the list or lists to prose if appropriate