Rank 9: In a Sea of Troubles-TELENOR

Telenor acquisition was finally completed by Airtel in May 2018. Telenor subscribers were the most affected as they were not given a smooth switch-over option in the course of confusion because of the acquisition. However, most of the subscribers had already ported to other operators reducing the scale of the impact. Telenor had done some good gains in circles like Andhra Pradesh and was being seen as among one of the potential newcomers that could scale up, with the backing of parent Telenor Group. However, challenges - ranging from legal battles to cancellation of license as well as a change of the local promoters - continued. The operator had focused on the pre-paid community, but due to its internal issues and changing market conditions they exit the market.