MUMBAI: The year 2015 will separate the men from the boys among telecom companies. It will be the year when companies can complete their service portfolios, or choose to remain regional. And, the result will come as early as February when the government will hold the next round of spectrum auction for second- and third-generation services.
The most recent recommendation from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, issued on the New Year eve – Rs 2,720 crore per MHz for pan-India 3G airwaves in the 2100 MHz band — provides an indicative cost of taking companies’ partial 3G footprint to an all-India level.
The actual price at which these frequencies are bought will likely have a bearing on the tariffs the companies offer. However, the presence of a deeppocketed and likely to be aggressive new rival, Reliance Jio Infocomm that is set to launch services in 2015, will temper the plans of existing players and squeeze their margins.
No private telecom company has pan-Indian 3G operations offering high-speed data transfer — No 1 Bharti Airtel, Reliance CommunicationsBSE 4.31 % and Aircel offe ..
