Devesh
Core Member
The Vodafone-Idea combine ends nearly two decades of leadership of Sunil Mittal's Bharti Airtel in the Indian telecom industry .And, it will be an uphill task for the company if it wants to regain the number one spot, industry officials and analysts told TOI.
Airtel has been the undisputed leader of the domestic telecom industry since the market matured and attained sizeable numbers; but now it stares a challenging future as the Vodafone-Idea combine will surge ahead with 40 crore subscribers compared to Airtel's 27 crore in India.
“Airtel will be hit by this competition, which is particularly alarming as Jio will eye the number two position with its aggressive tariffs. In next two-to-three years, you can see Airtel's numbers go down,“ said Mansoor Ali Shoket, a partner at J Sagar Associates, who tracks the telecom sector.
“Airtel will certainly go and try for consolidation with smaller players, like it has done with Telenor. But it faces its own challenges, like the Africa business which is a drag on its operations and profitability ,“ Shoket added.
Bharti Airtel to have tough climb to top spot: Experts, Telecom News, ET Telecom
Airtel has been the undisputed leader of the domestic telecom industry since the market matured and attained sizeable numbers; but now it stares a challenging future as the Vodafone-Idea combine will surge ahead with 40 crore subscribers compared to Airtel's 27 crore in India.
“Airtel will be hit by this competition, which is particularly alarming as Jio will eye the number two position with its aggressive tariffs. In next two-to-three years, you can see Airtel's numbers go down,“ said Mansoor Ali Shoket, a partner at J Sagar Associates, who tracks the telecom sector.
“Airtel will certainly go and try for consolidation with smaller players, like it has done with Telenor. But it faces its own challenges, like the Africa business which is a drag on its operations and profitability ,“ Shoket added.
Bharti Airtel to have tough climb to top spot: Experts, Telecom News, ET Telecom
