Sunil Bharti Mittal argued that service providers could invest in faster network rollout instead of spending money on acquiring spectrum
Sunil Bharti Mittal argued that service providers could invest in faster network rollout instead of spending money on acquiring spectrum
Telecoms provider Airtel on Thursday urged the government not to levy hefty fees for 5G spectrum allocation, saying faster rollout of the next-generation telecoms network could have more benefits than collecting revenue through upfront costs.
Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman of Bharti Enterprises, the country’s second-largest telecoms company, said there are a variety of applications in different sectors ranging from healthcare to video interactions, which will make 5G a technology that will emerge as soon as possible should be introduced.
“5G is important and that’s why we keep asking the government to do 5G as a enabler for hundreds of things we’re developing in the country to keep the spectrum affordable and not burden the industry too much,” said Mr , Mittal said on the Times Network India Economic Conclave.
Mr Mittal argued that instead of spending money on acquiring spectrum, service providers could invest in expanding the network at a faster rate, which will deliver high-speed connections with lower latency.
“I will say that the multiplier effect that a faster, high-speed, low-latency network can have for a country is many times greater than what can be achieved by picking up some money up front,” he added.
In the past, telecom companies have complained that high reserve prices act as a deterrent, and the high cost of spectrum has been cited as one of the reasons why the telecom industry has been in a poor financial position in recent years.
Regarding the proliferation of private and unregulated cryptocurrencies, Mr Mittal said such tools posed a “serious problem” and backed Treasury Secretary Nirmala Sitharaman’s call for a concerted response at a global forum in Washington.
Mr Mittal, whose company also operates a payments bank, said there were Know Your Customer (KYC) issues with such currencies but said the technology should be shielded from harsh measures such as a blanket ban.
“…There may be some very tough action by nation states to make them (cryptocurrencies) unlegal in the future. That needs to be protected. It’s a fine technology, it needs to be protected for humanity’s use, so protecting it can be a safe, very easily traceable kind of money ecosystem, but for that, governments have to catch up,” he said.
Mr Mittal, who also aims to offer satellite-based connectivity via a neo-constellation of satellites, said the rollouts in Alaska and Canada have been successful, adding that far-flung places in India like the areas near the China border are covered in jungle be from Gir or in the Himalayan mountains require such technology to connect people together. He said terrestrial wireless networks cannot reach up to 10 percent of India’s population, which can be connected via the satellites.
At the same event, V. Vaidyanathan of IDFC First Bank, a private sector lender, said India is in the “magic quadrant” where government strength can ensure reforms.
Mr Vaidyanathan said: “As this process progresses, we really need to think about how to deal with the situation where a small affected minority can affect the progress and benefits of a much larger group because they disrupt the entire ecosystem or disrupt the process Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur, also speaking at the event, said over 25,000 laws and regulations affecting businesses were repealed last year, adding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had asked his fellow ministers to decriminalize certain aspects.
Times Group chief executive Vinit Jain said some countries have grown by weeding out dissent and adopting a top-down approach, while India has a “loud and contentious” political process. He hopes the two-day event will act as a catalyst to realize India’s potential on a global scale and create a “more humane and peaceful world”.
