Telecom companies need government help to survive: Sunil Mittal

NEW DELHI: Sunil Mittal, the chairman of Bharti Airtel, said on Wednesday that the telecom industry is passing “through its most difficult period” in the past 25 years and needs “protection” and “sympathetic view” of the government to survive the unprecedented financial distress, which has been aggravated after the October 24 adjusted gross revenue (AGR) judgement of the Supreme Court.
While he sought a relief on AGR dues front that are now demanded by the government, Mittal also said the government should adjust – or offset – the near Rs 37,000 crore GST input refunds that the industry is yet to get back.
Mittal, who met telecom secretary Anshu Prakash for close to an hour, said India needs a 3-plus-1 telecom set-up, which basically means services offered by three private players (Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Reliance Jio) and one state-owned BSNL-MTNL combine.