Support Telecomtalk
Andrew Bonwick
Vice President of Product Development at Relm Insurance
Madhav Sheth
CEO of Ai+ Smartphone
Stephen Rose
CEO Render Networks
The telecom industry has become a bloodbath and is no field for new players now. Even seasoned companies are finding it hard to hold their ground in the extremely competitive environment that has grown to severe heights in the last few months. The falling data rates, the expectations of the shareholders and the customers alike have to be managed, and the COVID-19 pandemic has added to the worries by quite a margin. In such a situation, it is obvious for the companies to look towards the government for some relief in financial matters. This is exactly what Vodafone Idea (Vi) seems to be doing with more eagerness as compared to Reliance Jio or Bharti Airtel. But that does not mean that the other two players don’t need it as much. The truth remains that the telecom industry stands in financial ruins.
- Make Telecom Talk My Trusted Source
Relief Might Allay Security Fears for Government
Perhaps the first thing that the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) can arrange to do for the telecom companies is to give them a payment moratorium for the spectrum dues which have been purchased in the month of March earlier this year. The moratorium might mean a single nod for the government but for the telecom industry; this might be a big boon as it will not only reduce their financial worries but will also free up their resources which can be diverted to other constructive events such as expenditure towards deployment of good quality equipment.
The government has already banned the usage of Chinese-made equipment by the public telecom operator, BSNL. This means that ZTE and Huawei are likely to turn to the other private telecom operators with prices that are attractive. On the other hand, Nokia and Ericsson are some companies that will probably be trumped by Chinese equipment manufacturers. This might be a thing of worry for the government. Hence it is only obvious, that by giving financial relief to the telecom companies, the centre will be ensuring increased security in the telecom equipment sector. By freeing up the financial resources of the private telcos, it will allay its security concerns of an increased presence of Chinese equipment on Indian soil.
