Sunil Mittal: Cut-throat tariffs will force more telcos to exit sector

Bharti Airtel Chairman Sunil Mittal has recently told the Government that current cut-throat tariffs and ongoing competition will force more telecom operators to exit the sector, ET reported.

According to the report, during the meeting with Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha, Mittal said that only one or two non-state phone companies would stay in business "if current levels of competition persisted with tariffs pegged well below cost."

Notably, the entry of Mukesh Ambani owned Reliance Jio has changed or say disrupted the market with free voice and low data rates and has shaken the market and now whole telecom industry is sitting on a huge debt.

Jio's aggressive plans have forced others players to cut voice and data tariff, however, the move turned out as a nightmare to them.

In fact Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), Director-General, Rajan S Mathews on the financial health of the telecom industry.

He said, that the telecom industry has lost about 20 to 30 percent of revenue due to Reliance Jio's free services. Earlier, before Jio came into the game there were losses but year over year revenue was increasing.

Rajan also pointed out that 2016- 17 was the first year in the history of telecom industry that total revenue of the industry has declined.

When asked about, whether Jio was the reason behind losses, Rajan replied free "offers by one company is the principal reason behind it."