Vi's Rs 18,000-cr fundraise will increase competition, but it's good for Indian telecom, says Airtel's Gopal Vittal
Bharti Airtel managing director Gopal Vittal said rival Vodafone Idea’s recent Rs 18,000 crore capital raise will increase competition but is good for India’s telecom sector, which requires three strong players.
He added that the telecom industry urgently needs substantial tariff repair, ideally via multiple rounds of price hikes to boost average revenue per user (ARPU) to the Rs 300 level as the current returns are way too low.
Vittal did not specifically comment on when Airtel would start charging a premium for its 5G services, but conceded that the current high levels of data consumption — in the present 5G at 4G rates scenario — would automatically decline once 5G services are priced in. Airtel’s 5G user base was at 72 million in the quarter ended March 2024, and the telco is adding around 2-2.5 million 5G users a month amid rising device shipments, he added.
“I think India will be well served if it has three private operators. We (read: Airtel) are also pushing hard everyday… it has always been a brutally competitive marketplace ever since I’ve been around and ever since the company has been around, so downs keep happening, but you just need to be at the top of your game in terms of execution to continue to deliver a sustained performance,” Vittal said at Airtel's fiscal fourth quarter earnings call Wednesday.
He, though, said substantial tariff repairs are required at an industry level as the current 9.5% RoCE (return on capital employed) is extremely low, adding that while Airtel could take the lead, the
