The zing typically associated with Mobile Congress events when they are held overseas seems to be missing at the first such event being held in India.

On Day One, while CEOs were complaining about policy issues, guests were griping about the absence of free Wi-Fi.

The India Mobile Congress 2017 kicked off on a subdued note, with senior officials of the incumbent telcos sharing their grievances on recent policy developments. The heads of Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular, and Reliance Jio were present, as were chiefs of global majors operating in India, and yet the atmosphere was not really charged. The CEOs of Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular gave vent to their disaffection with the recent decisions on interconnect usage charge, high spectrum prices and high levies such as licence fee and GST.

Even so, the event had its lighter moments. At the inaugural session, top telecom titans, including Sunil Bharti Mittal and Mukesh Ambani shared the dais with senior Miinisters, including Ravi Shankar Prasad, Dharmendra Pradhan and Manoj Sinha.

With tongue firmly in cheek, Pradhan alluded to the tussle between Mittal and Ambani, and said, “There is a new competition between them: that consumer bill should not go above ₹300 a month. What better can happen for the consumers?”

While thanking Mittal for his presence at the event, Rajan Mathews of the COAI said in jest: “Sir, as long as you and Mr Ambani call each other as friends, the industry is okay.”

No basic amenities However, the event came in for criticism on the grounds that basic amenities like free Wi-Fi were missing. One foreign journalist said, “No Wi-Fi at such a big event? We were told in the invites that free Wi-Fi will be provided.”

Also, there were only a tenth as many footfalls as had been expected. A source said there were fewer than 10,000 people on the first day, against the COAI’s expectation of one lakh footfalls.

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