New Delhi, Feb. 12 -- Vodafone Idea is a cautionary tale in India's telecom sector.

From being a part of the big three of the telecom sector, the company's very existence was on the line.

A dangerous cocktail of high debt, pending dues, losing customers to competition, and persistent losses, all combined, resulted in massive wealth destruction.

A long-term chart of the stock makes this very clear.







Two things are immediately clear from this chart.

For more than six years, the stock has been stuck in a broad range between Rs.4 on the downside and Rs.17 on the upside.

However, the stock has not been able to establish either an uptrend or a downtrend.

Instead, investors have been subject to huge swings in the share price. A rise ...