Telecom sector: Next six months crucial

The industry is showing early signs of a turnaround, but it needs policy support

There are only three private sector telecom players left standing, namely Vodafone-Idea (VIL), Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio Infocomm (RJIL). These three hold 90 per cent of the mobile subscriber base of 1.16 trillion, with RJIL claiming 307 million subscribers, while VIL has 395 million and Airtel, 325 million (March 2019). 

The trio earned 2018-19 revenues of roughly Rs 2.3 trillion. Their outstanding debt is Rs 5 trillion with another Rs 3 trillion for spectrum charges and licence fees. Revenue market share (ex long-distance) favours RJIL with 39.8 per cent, while VIL has 28.9 per cent and Airtel, 24 per cent.