MUMBAI: The board of Idea Cellular has called for an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) on June 26 to approve changing the name of ‘Idea Cellular Limited’ to ‘Vodafone Idea Limited’, as the merger of India's second and third ranked telcos nears completion.The EGM will also consider the board's plan to raise funds via nonconvertible securities of not more than ₹15,000 crore, which may be used to pare debt, with the merged entity looking to strengthen its balance sheet to take on rivals Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel. Vodafone India and Idea Cellular are in the final leg of getting regulatory approvals for merging their operations to create what will be the largest telecom firm in the country, with an almost 42% customer market share and 37% revenue market share.In the regulatory filing, the Kumar Mangalam Birla-owned company said that after all regulatory approvals and issuance of “fresh certificate of incorporation by the Registrar of Companies consequent upon change of name, the old name Idea Cellular Limited as appearing in name clause of the Memorandum of Association of the company and wherever appearing in the Articles of Association of the company and other documents and places be substituted with the new name Vodafone Idea Limited.”Brand experts had earlier told ET that a new name for the merged firm was best suited since Vodafone’s strength was in its urban circles and Idea Cellular’s in rural areas, and subscribers across markets needed a name they could immediately recall. Brand consultant Harish Bijoor said there is a little bit of both companies in this new name and it was a win-win for both sides. “Both brands pack enviable consumer equity. Nothing is lost in this new identity path ahead,” said Bijoor.Both operators in their March statement last year said that “the brand strategy of the combined company will be developed in due course and will leverage customers’ affinity for both existing brands, built up over the past decade.”The telco said on Friday that its Board would consider issuing “non-convertible securities including but not limited to non-convertible debentures (NCDs) secured or unsecured, in one or more series/ tranches aggregating up to an amount not exceeding ₹15,000 crore..."Idea Cellular has been steadily raising money in the past few months and according to analysts, the Idea-Vodafone merged entity will need to continue to infuse more funds and pare combined debt, which stood at more than ₹1,14,000 crore at March end.The telecom department is also shortly expected to raise a demand for about ₹6,000 crore as one-time spectrum charges (OTSC) as a pre-condition for clearing their mega merger.Idea has already raised ₹6,750 crore from promoters this year and through a private placement of shares, while Vodafone is infusing ₹7,390 crore. Besides, the two have sold their captive towers to American Tower Corp. for ₹7,850 crore, which will translate into more funds for the operators.The merged company’s list of senior executives was announced two months ago, with Balesh Sharma as chief executive officer of the new entity. Analysts believe that Sharma and his team will have to hit the ground running as both telcos have trailed Jio and current market leader Bharti Airtel on rolling out 4G and Voice over LTE services.