KOLKATA: Idea Cellular and Vodafone India plan to shortly kick off operational integration of their networks following the go-ahead by the competition regulator. But the exercise is likely to be fraught with challenges, possibly requiring tough and costly calls leading to consolidation of their ecosystem partners, experts said. The Idea management, at an earnings call last week, said the company can "now plan the integration aspects" with approvals in place from the Competition Commission of India ( CCI ) for its merger with Vodafone India. Brokerage house HSBC said "prompt CCI approval is a positive" but integration of Idea and Vodafone India's operations will have to "be seamlessly executed" to ensure the merged entity is able to contest market disruption by Reliance Jio Infocomm that is expected to continue for several quarters.