Mittal, Sarin see telecom consolidation driving out new GSM players

Mumbai: Bharti Airtel, India's top mobile operator, and Vodafone expect the new GSM players to exit the market sooner than later.

Bharti Airtel chief said the future looks gloomy for telecom sector aspirants and all the new players will "collapse" within three years.

Bharti Airtel, meanwhile, said it has achieved 60 million subscriber base (both mobile and fixed).

Mittal said most of the new proposals are not viable. These firms would take at least 12 months to build their network and 24 months after that they will struggle to survive in the market, he added.

Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin had earlier said a consolidation process will start in the telecom sector and that only one or two new players will remain in the arena.

Sarin also wanted to buy spectrum from the market in case if it did not get the additional frequency from the government. Mittal, on the other hand, wanted the government not to give spectrum to anybody at the cost of existing players.