From connecting people with 5G services to reducing cost of operations, the country’s revived telecom sector is witnessing a slew of reforms, and is set to attract investments worth over Rs 1.5 lakh crore to build out networks in the new year .
Once the poster boy of India’s growth story, then a debt-laden segment that saw many players pull back and now riding the wave of reforms as well as big-ticket investments, the telecom sector has set a new horizon in 2022. Chapter changed.
while Adani Group It is yet to unveil its full-fledged plans for the telecom business, Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani Rs. 2 lakh crore investment for roll out 5G Network across the country by December 2023.
“It has been an exciting year due to the launch of 5G, a much-anticipated technology from 4-5 years. It is a huge step forward. We look forward to a strong rollout of 5G next year as this year is only the beginning.
Telecom secretary said, “We are working on all use cases. We are asking state governments, ministries, startups and innovators to come up with new use cases in the Indian context, which will unlock businesses and some Will also solve public problems, some challenges.” K Rajaraman told PTI.
He also said the government would continue to take measures that would bring down the cost of operations for telecom operators, a move that would result in higher margins for the sector, which had been reeling under debt for more than a decade. .
Reliance Jio 87,946.93 crore has been paid for spectrum, to be paid over a period of 20 years, leaving a balance of Rs 1.12 lakh crore. According to sources, while the company invested a partial amount in building its own 5G core, it will invest most of the Rs 1.12 lakh in capex for 5G in 2023.
Bharti Airtel 27,000-28,000 crore and state-owned investment is expected BSNL About Rs 16,000 crore to launch indigenously developed 4G network in 2023 TCS and a consortium led by C-DOT. Later, the system will be upgraded to 5G.
Overall investment in the telecom sector is expected to exceed Rs 1.5 lakh crore.
COAI Director General S P Kochhar said 100 per cent FDI is automatic in the telecom sector under the structural and procedural reforms approved by the government last year such as e-KYC, abolition of spectrum usage charges (SUC) for spectrum won in future auctions, The rationalization of bank guarantees along the way, Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR), interest rates and penalties, and Right of Way (RoW) facility have positively impacted the sector in 2022.
TR Dua, Director General, Digital Infrastructure Providers Association, said that most of the state governments have followed the reforms led by the Center and have come out with telecom infrastructure friendly policies this year.
Recently, Minister of State for Telecom Devsingh Chouhan informed the Parliament that telecom operators are setting up an average of 2,500 base stations per week to provide 5G services in the country and 20,980 mobile base stations have been set up till 26 November.
Telecom Gear Major – Nokia And Ericsson – Has ramped up its manufacturing in India. The government has also received investment commitments of Rs 4,115 crore from 42 firms shortlisted under the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme to manufacture telecom gear.
Nokia said it is witnessing the world’s fastest rollout of 5G networks in India.
“In 2023, we expect to see continued government support in enabling the digital ecosystem to truly harness the benefits of socio-economic applications of 5G technology. The network is expected to drive widespread adoption and security,” said a Nokia India spokesperson.
Ericsson MD, India and Head of Networks, South East Asia, Oceania and India, Nitin Bansal said that enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) and fixed wireless access (FWA) are expected to be the initial 5G use cases in India. This technology will help in bridging the digital divide by addressing the concerns of limited fixed broadband penetration levels and improving the data experience while on the go.
Tech Mahindra President, Communications, Media & Entertainment Business, and CEO, Network Services, Manish Vyas said that 5G will be used to develop revolutionary applications and innovative use cases across industries, such as manufacturing, healthcare, BFSI and autonomous driving.
“We see 5G for Enterprise (5G4E) as our next growth strategy, and we are already doing several pilots around the world,” he added.
Rahul Tandon, Senior Vice President, Ideamia India, said as India embarks on 5G connectivity, it opens up many new capabilities to enhance the productivity and security of not only online transactions but also machine-2-machine (M2M) transactions.
While telecom operators are investing billions in building 5G networks, a senior Airtel executive said there is no application yet that can help companies monetize 5G.
“5G is helping to reduce traffic from 4G network. 5G is a very efficient and better technology but currently applications like video, gaming etc are working well on 4G. We are yet to see any such application Don’t see anything that can help monetize 5G specifically,” the official said.
He also said that the company expects growth to be driven by customers upgrading their service from 2G to 4G, pre-paid to post-paid and post-paid to home broadband and tariff hike.
Annual Tariff Hike by Telecom Operators – Bharti Airtel, vodafone idea And Jio – the companies have brought a sustainable level of average revenue per user (ARPU) status in 2022 in the range of 18-42 per cent.
Vodafone Idea had increased the rates of mobile services by up to 42 per cent in November 2019. Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio followed VIL in raising tariffs.
The tariff hike in 2019 happened after a gap of almost five years. Data prices had come down by 95 per cent to Rs 11.78 per GB in 2017 from Rs 269 per GB in 2014.
Bharti Airtel is running a pilot project to increase its entry-level mobile plans by around 57 per cent. The company has increased the minimum recharge price by almost 57 per cent to Rs 155 for 28 days mobile phone service plan in Haryana and Odisha.
A company official said it would look at the outcome of the tariff hike in the next six weeks to decide on a pan-India tariff hike.
While VIL is able to grow through 2022, the year 2023 is likely to be a make-or-break year for the company as the debt-laden company is set to pick up around 33 per cent stake under a plan to replace interest dues with the government. is waiting for in equity.
A note by JM Financial in October 2021 said that VIL would need to have an APRU of at least Rs 190-200 by March 2023 to survive, but the company is far from the mark and needs to check customer churn. struggling for.
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