Telecom: Near-term consolidation for incumbents

Telenor India is latest telecom provider to hit the exit button, hastened by RJio aggressive pricing

Telenor India is the latest telecom provider to hit the exit button, with consolidation, hastened by Reliance Jio’s (RJio) aggressive pricing, leaving weaker players little other option.

Last month, Idea and Vodafone had announced they were in talks for a possible merger. Analysts believe the near term will see some pressure on realisations, though things could improve once the dust settles.

Manoj Behera of PhillipCapital says there will continue to be pricing pressure, as most players will be keen to grab data and subscriber market share by offering attractive packages. Once the customer is in the network, operators could look