“None of the telcos in India except BSNL has got pan India 3G spectrum. So, they will have to get into mutual cooperation amongst each other to enable 3G roaming services for their subscribers, which will make 3G schemes meaningful. The crucial battle will be on how these services are priced and how quickly telcos generate the 3G subscriber base,” said Jatin Ahluwalia, the founder of VAS firm vRock Mobiles.
At the auction for 3G spectrum held in May this year, nine telcos together spent about Rs65,000 crore to get spectrum across telecom circles.
Assuming each operator invested Rs5,000 crore for spectrum, the Mumbai-based analyst said, they will have to spend a further Rs 5,000 crore apiece to procure the radio equipment needed to launch 3G services.
The massive investments made to buy 3G licences have cranked up debt in the balance sheets of the companies.
Bharti Airtel, India’s largest telecom operator by subscribers, has a total debt of $12 billion (Rs 55,000 crore), including the loans it took to finance the acquisition of Zain’s telecom operations in Africa.
Rival RCom has a gross debt of over Rs 33,000 crore post the 3G expenses.
3g-model-looks-predicated-on-subscriber-poaching
No comments:
Post a Comment