Bharti urges Govt to restore telecom sector health

Urging the government to restore the financial health of the telecom sector, Rakesh Bharti Mittal, vice-chairman of Bharti Enterprises on Monday said the settling of the Rs 1 lakh crore worth litigation and addressing the exorbitantly high spectrum prices was among the measures that needed to be taken.

“Endless litigation in the sector is causing stress and the over Rs 1 lakh crore worth litigation needs to be settled, GST credit needs to be unlocked, licence fee and spectrum usage charges need to be lowered and the customs duty on telecom equipment needs to be revised to bring the cost of doing business for the telecom operators,” Mittal said at the inaugural address of the India Mobile Congress on Monday.

Outlining the landscape of the telecom industry in the country, he added, despite the financial condition of the sector, the current structure of three private players with almost equal share was a very sustainable structure.

Mittal then highlighted how the average revenue per user (Arpu) in India was between $1 and $1.5, while in the US the figures were around $ 36.

“Despite this level of Arpu, the capex levels of Indian telcos are similar to big global players and this is causing stress,” Mittal said, further drawing attention to how the reserve price of 5G airwaves suggested by the telecom regulator was seven times higher than the global peers.

Apart from the high recommended price of 5G Mittal said, other challenges in deploying 5G needed to be resolved soon, if India wanted to take the leap forward in the next generation technology. “In 5G the number of sites required will be multifold and so would be the need to fiberize but getting the right of way (RoW) despite the central government’s industry friendly guidelines is still a challenge,” Mittal noted.

He added that the state and the local level bodies looked at RoW permits as revenue generation tools rather than crucial for providing essential digital services to the citizens. “75% of the cost in laying fibre is for RoW,” he said.