Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Jio look at $30 billion capex on 5G

KOLKATA: India’s top three telecom operators are looking at a collective capital expenditure of a shade over $30 billion (Rs 2.1 lakh crore) on base stations and fibre infrastructure alone for rolling out ultra-fast fifth-generation or 5G mobile networks, said analysts.

Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, they said, would require to spend $10 billion capex each over the next five years, while Reliance Jio Infocommm’s incremental 5G capex outgo is estimated lower at around $8 billion as the Mukesh Ambani-led operator already has more 5G-ready fiberised towers than the incumbents, having already spent around $2 billion on tower fiberisation.

Analysts were, however, sceptic about Vodafone Idea’s ability to sustain such big-ticket capex spends given its continuing market share losses and weak financials, which they said could choke its 5G play.