We are killing telecom in a non-conducive way: Mittal

Billionaire Sunil Bharti Mittal on Thursday said a combination of rock-bottom tariffs and high consumption is killing the telecom industry and sector regulator Trai needs to urgently intervene to strike a balance between the needs for protecting investments and consumer interest.

“…but, I think we need to have a balance between requirement of investments and consumer on the other side,” Mittal, chairman of Bharti Airtel, told reporters after a pre-Budget meeting between Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and corporate leaders.

“My view is Rs 200 ARPU (average revenue per user) is eventually going to Rs 300 ARPU… At the lower end, Rs 100 for a customer over a month of consuming rich data, voice and other services and on the upper end Rs 450-500… therefore, blended eventual landing point of Rs 300 a month, which will still be USD 4 a month.