Lot of litigation in the telecom industry; new cases must be avoided: Sunil Bharti Mittal

Speaking at the India Mobile Congress 2021, Bharti Airtel founder and Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal said that there is a lot of litigation in the industry and that new cases must be avoided. He also said that the past two years have been difficult for the industry but government reforms came in on time to provide some much-needed breather. He added that the industry shrank from 12 players to three, but those players can form the digital backbone of the country.

“A lot of litigation remains in the telecom sector; new cases must be avoided and old ones must be resolved. Regulatory regime needs to be simple, one that does not create more litigation going forward,” he said. 

Mittal said that the current environment is significantly better than what the industry had witnessed for the past several years. “The seminal reforms that the government has ushered in has brought in cheer and heightened comfort for all the active players in the industry. The package that was unveiled by the government recently has very clearly been lapped up by the markets and the stakeholders. There is now a great degree of confidence and hope that the players that now remain will set the agenda for the digital backbone for our industry and country,” he said.

He said with the number of players down to three private operators, the government’s intervention “to ensure that the players are concentrating on market development, building India’s digital highways and serving the digital dream of the Prime Minister” proved timely.

Mittal added that the last round of reforms has brought in a lot of energy in the industry.

The Airtel chief appealed to his industry friends to focus on gearing up for the next wave of connectivity. “We are discussing even beyond 5G where India should be taking the lead in developing its own standards,” he said.

Mittal stated that while it is important to compete and get every customer a company can, it is equally important to collaborate. “There is so much duplication in the industry, be it the area of towers of fibre, we need to talk to each other to share tower infrastructure,” he said.

The Bharti Airtel Chairman also pitched for reduction of spectrum pricing and lowering of duties.

Also read: Roll-out of 5G should be India’s national priority: Mukesh Ambani