Telecom

The Union Ministry of Road Transport has drawn an elaborate plan to have OFC (Optical Fiber Cable) infrastructure along 25,000 km of national highways in the next three years. In this regard, bids have been invited for laying OFC ducts for a total length of about 2000 Kms at a...

Snapshot Logic dictates that spectrum prices must be cut, and cut drastically — perhaps by 30-50 per cent in various bands.There is a moral hazard in pricing spectrum too high, even assuming some of it can be sold. The anchoring effect is a well-known decision-making trap. It is a human...

Snapshot There is a case to be made for the government to help out the incumbents so that they don’t go under.No one gains by bleeding the industry so much where one more player considers exiting the field. One of the first decisions any government formed after the general elections...

Snapshot America is taking actions against the Chinese telecom equipment giant Huawei, and asking rest of the West to follow suit.How did things reach such a point? How dangerous really is Huawei, and how should India secure its interests in all of this? Recently, after many years of whispers, allegations,...

Snapshot The government will need to be ready to provide easier terms for existing telecom players in terms of their spectrum dues in order to retain the competitive element in the industry. Some 18 months ago, Reliance Industries made a presentation to analysts predicting that the dual-SIM market will crash...

Snapshot The Jio strategy has worked wonderfully well, and the huge bet in terms of capital investment in networks and customer acquisition by Mukesh Ambani are beginning to pay off.As things stand, Jio is winning. Mukesh Ambani is not home yet, but he is half-way there. With 252 million subscribers at the...

Snapshot Jio’s biggest impact has been on the revenues and profits for its main competitors: in the first quarter of 2018-19, all the three – Airtel, Vodafone and Idea – reported a drop in revenues and profits. Less than two years after the launch of Reliance Jio, the biggest bet...

Snapshot The major telecom players in India are reporting losses. One might feel inclined to blame Jio alone for the poor health of the sector, it all started before Jio’s entry.The sector needs government support, especially because it plays a critical part in some of the government’s key programmes. The...

Snapshot Jio will continue to wage a war for more market share by keeping tariffs low. The telecom disruption isn’t over yet, for Jio is not aiming for number three. The rapid consolidation in the telecom industry, where four major players exited over the last six months (Reliance Communications, Tata...

Snapshot Getting ownership of tower assets would also be crucial for Jio to expand the 4G footprint and take on rivals. With Reliance Jio Infocomm agreeing to buy wireless assets like spectrum, towers and optic fibre from Reliance Communications (RCom), a long telecom chapter in the history of Reliance Group...