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A lot of litigation still remains in the Indian telecom industry and it is time that new cases must be avoided and have a regime so that there are no more such cases in future, Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman, Bharti Enterprises said on Wednesday.
Speaking at the inaugural session of the fifth India Mobile Conference (IMC) 2021, Mittal said, “I would like to request the government that one area where they need to lower the temperature of our industry is really in the area of litigation. A lot of litigation still remains. There are cases right from TDSAT, High Courts to Supreme Court. Cases which are very old that need to be settled and new cases must be avoided.”
“We must have a regime, which is simple in its regulatory touch and does not create more litigations going forward. This will release the energy of the industry in the gainful and rightful way. And, this will be one appeal to the government as we go forward,” he said at the virtual event.
He said duties in the telecom sector also still remain large, which is an area of industry demand for a long time. “Spectrum remains expensive. So, some of these areas also I would appeal to the government to continuously look at for the benefit of our digital dream.”
Looking forward
Mittal also appealed to his counterparts to now start to focus on building the industry for the next wave of connectivity like 5G and even beyond 5G where India should be taking a lead in developing its own standards, possibly for 6G and beyond technologies.
“We need to fight hard, compete in the market place to get every customer each of us can get. But equally, we need to collaborate. There is so much of duplication in the industry, whether it is in the area of towers or it’s in the area of fiber,” he said.
“We need to start to talk to each other, do co-builds like the world is doing, share more tower infrastructure and ensure that while we fiercely compete, we also collaborate and lower the cost structures for serving the most affordable tariffs anywhere in the world,” Mittal added.
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