Telcos may have to look beyond China to procure equipment

KOLKATA: Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea could be staring at costlier 4G network expansions and rollouts if China fails to overcome impacts of the ongoing coronavirus outbreak in another three months as the telcos would be compelled to procure equipment from non-Chinese suppliers.

The mobile phone operators are keeping a close watch on the scale of the epidemic as they have only a few months back-up inventory for tackling exigencies, industry insiders said.