Telecom cake being sliced too thin, agree experts
11 Jan 2010
Is the Indian telecom market overcrowded, with too many players per circle? The almost unanimous answer from industry watchers as well as average users would be 'yes'; and now this view has been endorsed by a panel of experts, including a Department of Telecommunications official.
The price war in the mobile telephony sector is likely to worsen, leading to a dog-eat-dog situation if the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) fails to intervene, industry bigwigs say.
Participating at a panel discussion in Bangalore organised by the T A Pai Management Institute on Sunday, experts wondered if whether having 14 operators in a telecom circle was harming the players themselves.
The discussion also touched upon the operators erecting towers irrationally, leading to the choking of signals. The panellists felt that the spectrum of signals should be rationalised, shared and harmonised among the operators.
Debating on the topic 'Is the ongoing price war in the telecom sector an indication of future consolidation?' one of the panellists referred to the trend in Chennai, where tariffs has been decreasing by 11 per cent or more every year.
The current average call rate of 50 paise a minute offered by most operators in India is affordable by any standards, the panellists pointed out.
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