Bharti Enterprises Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal on Thursday sought more spectrum for the growth of the telecom industry and called on the government to work towards making it available to the service providers.
Replying to a query on sidelines of the India Economic Summit, Mr. Mittal said, “We want more spectrum from the government. I personally believe every country has the same amount of spectrum. It is not that India has less... It needs to be vacated from other places; that is what other countries have also done.
“So we should vacate spectrum from uses which are either analog in nature or with public sector units. The government will have to work towards that and I am aware that the government is working towards it.”
He warned that data customers are growing very fast and service providers will face difficulties offering quality service if spectrum is not made available in adequate quantity.
Asked if the spectrum auctions scheduled for February should be deferred, Mr. Mittal said, “Why should this be deferred? Industry needs more spectrum and the government should make it available to them.”
On Bharti Airtel and Loop Mobile’s Rs 700 crore deal falling through, he said, “Loop is a small deal. Most of the subscribers have ported to us and many more will. I don't know why this is being made into such a big issue.”
Airtel was supposed to purchase the crises-hit Loop Mobile’s Mumbai network but the definitive agreement signed between the two expired on October 30 and was not renewed leading to the Rs. 700-crore deal falling through.
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