The company blamed hyper competition and high regulatory headwinds for aggravating the industry's financial stress. "The TRAI led regulation changes including reduction of domestic Mobile Termination Charge from 14 paisa to 6 paisa per minute and 'International mobile termination' settlement charges from 53 paisa to 30 paisa per minute further aggravated the financial stress for the existing industry operators," Idea Cellular said in a post-earnings statement. Giving an update on its merger with Vodafone, Idea Cellular said the process is in the final stages and is expected to be completed by June 2018. "The merger of Idea and Vodafone India is in the final leg of regulatory approvals and is expected to complete in H1CY18," it said. Established operators like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular are in the midst of a bruising tariff war following the entry of Reliance Jio backed by India's richest businessman Mukesh Ambani.