"There has been some impact in the last few quarters but in the next 6-8 months, the sector will stabilise," Sinha told DNA in an interview.
The crisis-ridden telecom industry, which has witnessed hyper competition since the entry of a new player — Reliance Jio — last year, is expected to stabilise in the next 6-8 months.
Saying this, Union Minister of State for Communications Manoj Sinha added that such a disruption had happened in 2003 as well, and the market had stabilised within a year at that time.
"There has been some impact in the last few quarters but in the next 6-8 months, the sector will stabilise," Sinha told DNA in an interview.
"We are in a consolidation phase. Globally, there are 2-3 players in telecom sector. Here also, only 4-5 players will be left. There is stiff competition and tariffs for voice and data are very low. Indian mobile market has huge potential," the Minister said.
Telecom players together have a cumulative debt of around Rs 5 lakh crore
Last year, Mukesh Ambani-run Reliance Jio entered the telecom industry creating a disruption with its free voice calls and dirt cheap data tariffs. Existing telecom players such as Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellula and BSNL were forced to match the tariffs to retain their user base, but it impacted the margins and profits of the telecom companies substantially.
Since then, a consolidation in the sector is underway. Vodafone and Idea have announced a merger, Airtel has acquired Telenor India and will be soon acquiring the wireless business of the Tata Group while Reliance Communications merged Shyam Sistema's wireless business with itself and has shut down its 2G services.
When asked if the telecom industry is witnessing hyper competition, Sinha said, "Let's wait for results of the next two quarters, then we will take a view on it."
An inter-ministerial group under the Department of Telecommunications has also suggested some measures to ease the financial stress faced by telecom players. The measures include an increase in tenure of deferred spectrum instalments (for spectrum bought in auctions) to 16 years from 10 years, while lowering the rate of interest charged on penalties on delayed payments.
"These have already been approved by the Telecom Commission and will be sent to the Cabinet soon. Telecom is a success story and the government will ensure its continuity," Sinha said.
India is the second largest telecom market in the world with 1.2 billion mobile users and around 450 million internet users. The telecom industry generates four million direct and indirect jobs.
Last year, the industry was engulfed in the issue of call drops which had forced the government to step in and take a regular update from operators on improvement of existing infrastructure besides asking them to invest more for resolving this call drop menace.
"Compared to last year, call drops have significantly reduced and even telecom regulator TRAI's latest report has proved this," he said.
Talking about the forthcoming new Telecom Policy, the Minister said the new policy would include all the new technologies such as artificial intelligence, internet of things (IoT), 5G, among others.
"The objective is to make India future ready at a time when data adoption is increasing at a fast pace and will be the centre of many things. 5G technology will speed up the digital transformation," Sinha added.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "MANOJ_SINHA")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}