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NEW DELHI: 2016 was an indelible year for the telecom industry<\/a> as it marked Mukesh Ambani led Jio<\/a>’s foray into the sector which led to industry's revenue getting caught in a downward spiral as old players’(Vodafone, Idea, Bharti Airtel<\/a>) saw their profits and subscriber bases dwindling rapidly.
The erstwhile flourished industry narrowed to a handful of players with 2019 opening up new challenging frontiers for the sector.
It kept surfacing up in headlines owing to several significant developments, let’s dive into what kept India’s telecom sector abuzz throughout 2019.
<\/b>AGR<\/a> blow: Industry caught in a frenzy
<\/b>
The highlight of 2019 was the Supreme Court’s judgement on the long standing dispute of computing AGR that had the telecom operators and DoT in a deadlock for over 15 years.
Bringing an end to the altercation, the apex court in October mandated telecom companies to pay their overdues accumulated over the 15 year span during which the matter had stretched as it upheld DoT’s demand that operators include non-telecom service revenues in their adjusted gross revenue; a part of which is then paid by the telcos to the government in license fees and spectrum usage charges.
The total amount that DoT asserted as due including the principal, penalty and interest on penalty worked out to be a massive Rs 1.4 lakh crore with about Rs 89,000 crore due from Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea<\/a> alone making them the worst sufferers.
Historic losses for VIL and Airtel followed by spectrum charges' moratorium relief<\/b>
Amidst the furore that erupted, the two incumbents recorded combined losses of over Rs 74,000 crore in the quarter ending September, with Vodafone Idea’s share being Rs 51,000 cr--the highest ever loss for a corporate in the country.
What followed was a round of petitions filed in the Supreme court praying for relief in some form amidst the head honchos of Birla group and Vodafone Plc denying any help to take the two telecom giants out of the plunge.
The Centre in November, in what was seen as a measure to allay concerns, deferred spectrum charges due in FY 2019-20 and 20-21 for two years easing off the telcos immediate cash crunch woes.
But industry’s demand for amnesty hasn’t died down as experts believed this measure to be incommensurate with SC having dismissed telcos' plea for relief on January 16 in the new year.
Sector backtracking on no-tariff regime, ends the era of freebies<\/b>
The AGR brunt made way for an unprecedented development in what came as sector’s discourse reversal with telecom operators hiking bundled prepaid tariffs for the first time in three years effectively going back to pre-Jio era.
In order to withstand the severe financial blow dealt in the form of AGR related dues, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea along with Jio sought tariff revisions effective December with an increase in the range of 25-50%.
Industry experts and bodies green signalled the move saying that it is an affirmative step towards improvement in the operating metrics of the industry and could help the telcos close gaps in their balance sheets.
Tariff hikes<\/a> to ignite recovery?<\/b>
CRISIL said that the revised tariffs will improve the industry’s average revenue per user (ARPU) by about 25% to Rs 145 next fiscal from around Rs 116 in 2019-- a key performance unit that has been in slump for the last seven quarters.
The impact of these remedial measures, however will unfold only in quarterly results ending March 2020.
However, analysts have opined, 2020 could also see a potential fall in mobile user base as many users seek SIM consolidation and opt for a single mobile connection owing to higher tariffs and costlier minimum recharge plans.
Respite for old telcos with IUC<\/a> scrappage deferred by a year
<\/b>
Another major closure got delivered on the interconnect usage charge issue with Trai deferring the implementation of the zero-IUC regime by a year that was slated to kick off starting January 2020, on account of “inadequate adoption of 4G technologies by consumers and asymmetries in traffic”.
IUC --a charge that a call-originating telco pays to the destination operator on whose network the call terminates--is pegged at Rs 6 paisa\/min.
The regulator in 2017 had proposed to kickstart BAK (bill and keep) system from January 2020 where the call generating telco as proposed would keep the amount instead of paying it.
The deferment has been welcomed by older carriers Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel as they are net interconnect revenue earners given most Jio calls end on their networks which makes the latter a net payer.
By putting off the immediate January 2020 date set for scrapping the regime, by a year, Trai, for now has enabled the two saddled operators to continue earning some streams of cash flows.
Government throws lifeline to BSNL-MTNL
<\/b>
The national carrier- BSNL<\/a> that has traditionally been hailed as a strategic asset for the country finally got government’s nod on a revival plan set out to save the PSU that has been ringing losses since 2010.
In October, the centre approved a Rs 70,000 crore revival plan devising BSNL and MTNL to be merged along with other significant measures like allocation of 4G airwaves, asset monetisation worth Rs 38,000 crore, Rs 15,000 crore worth of sovereign bonds and voluntary retirement scheme for the combined 2 lakh employees that will save about Rs 8,800 crore in wage bills for the two state majors.
However, the revival package itself does not seem enough to assuage concerns that arise on the implementation front.
Questions around impact of cutting down workforce on the proposed merged entity’s operational caliber, roping in prospective bidders for the monetisation process, potential bureaucratic delays in getting approvals among others still continue to echo clear.
Further, as recently reported by ETT, the centre’s rural mobile connectivity initiatives of about Rs 20,956.23 crore, like BharatNet, Left-Wing Extremism II-- among several others are now being considered for open bidding that would allow private players to also bid which could lead to BSNL being sidelined.
5G<\/a> road: Auction getting delayed while government nods Huawei's participation<\/b>
Commercial roll out of the ambitious 5G technology in India has been in a hang for years now with the delay seemingly stretching over and beyond 2020 as well.
While the industry has been in conflict with the government over what it contends as high pricing and scanty availability of the spectrum in the 3.3-3.6 GHz bands, the financial knockout on account of AGR has effectively made the operators incapable of bidding within this fiscal.
<\/b>
Even though Airtel, Vodafone Idea, Jio and BSNL submitted applications to conduct field trials with DoT on January 15, industry experts still see 5G coming to India by 2022 since telcos having their balance sheets badly bruised lack monetary headroom to bid for the final auctions.
In contrast, just two days before the new year, on December 30, the government allowed Chinese player Huawei (read all vendors) to conduct field trials in partnership with the telecom players.
The move came after India’s prolonged silence over Huawei’s participation in 5G deployments in light of the United States pressing India to bar Huawei from deploying the network. India, however, finally took a position on the issue as it juggles to maintain strategic balance with two of its major trade partners--China and the US.
2020 begins with demands for aid as <\/b>SC rejects reprieve plea of telcos<\/b>
SC in a closed hearing on January 16 dismissed Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Tata Teleservices' plea that they had filed back in November asking the court for a review of its October AGR ruling. Following this, another petition in the form of 'modification pleas' has been filed by the telcos that is likely to be taken up for hearing on February 3.
While Jio alone paid its AGR dues of Rs 195 crore right in time on the stipulated date of January 23, VIL and Airtel haven't shelled out any amount yet as they cling to hope for relief in payment terms during the court's upcoming hearing on their modification pleas.
DoT for now has also refrained from taking any punitive measures against the phone companies for not meeting the January 23 deadline.
The rejection to extend any help to carriers could potentially lead to a two player industry, analysts believe. VIL being left in the lurch could be seen exiting the industry as KM Birla has previously said.
Additionally, ahead of the Union budget coming on February 1, the industry which is being weighed down by multiple taxes and levies has reportedly asked the government for aid in the form of reduction of regulatory levies, taxes and license fees with lower interest rates to access credit. Demands for removal of GST from license fee and spectrum usage charges have also been made.
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印度的电信业倒带;从AGR BSNL复兴5 g, IUC在2019年关税上涨
Jio突袭后,该行业已经通过一些激进的变化。昔日的繁荣行业缩小少数玩家与2019年开放新的富有挑战性的前沿。为什么印度的电信行业保持在2019年登上报纸头条?
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新德里:2016年的电信是不可磨灭的行业它标志着穆凯什·安巴尼领导Jio进入该行业的导致行业收入陷入恶性循环球员一样古老(沃达丰的想法,Bharti Airtel)利润和订户基地迅速减少。
昔日的繁荣行业缩小少数玩家与2019年开放新的富有挑战性的前沿领域。
它不停地出现在头条由于几个重大进展,让我们深入印度电信行业在2019年的。
AGR打击:行业陷入了疯狂
2019年最高法院的判决的亮点的长期争端计算AGR的电信运营商和在死锁点了15年。
结束了口角,法院要求电信公司10月支付逾期积累了15年跨度有拉伸,因为它支持点的需求,运营商包括non-telecom服务收入在调整后的总收益;的一部分,然后由电信公司向政府支付许可费用和频谱使用费用。
点断言,由于总量包括校长、罚款和利息罚款工作是一个巨大的1.4十万的卢比存放Bharti Airtel的约为89000卢比沃达丰的想法仅使他们最严重的患者。
历史损失维尔和Airtel紧随其后的是频谱指控的禁令救济
在愤怒爆发,这两个现有记录的损失超过74000卢比在截至9月份的季度,沃达丰(Vodafone)想法的分享是Rs 51000 cr——有史以来最高亏损企业。
随之而来的是一轮最高法院提交的请愿书祈求救援以某种形式在博拉集团的老板和沃达丰公司负责人否认任何帮助的两大电信巨头的暴跌。
11月的中心,被视为一项措施,减轻忧虑,延迟谱费用将在2019财政年度- 20和20日至21日两年宽松的电信公司直接现金短缺困境。
但业内对大赦的需求还没有平息,专家认为这一措施是不相称的SC有了电信公司的1月16日请求救援。
部门对no-tariff政权的回溯,免费的时代结束
AGR的冲击使得前所未有的方式发展之际,部门与电信运营商的传统话语逆转徒步旅行捆绑预付关税有效三年来第一次回到pre-Jio时代。
为了承受严重的金融冲击的形式AGR相关会费,Bharti Airtel,沃达丰的想法随着Jio寻求关税修订有效增加12月25 - 50%的范围。
行业专家和身体绿色表示此举说这是一个肯定的一步改善行业的运营指标,可以帮助电信公司填补资产负债表方面的空白。
关税上涨点燃复苏?
CRISIL表示,修改后的关税将提高行业的每用户平均收入(ARPU) 25% Rs 145下一财政从2019年的大约116卢比——关键绩效单位一直在为过去7个季度下滑。
然而,这些补救措施的影响只在截至2020年3月季度业绩将展开。
然而,分析师认为,2020年也可以看到一个潜在的下降移动用户尽可能多的用户寻求SIM整合和选择一个移动连接由于高关税和成本最低充电计划。
缓解老电信公司IUC报废延迟了一年
另一个主要关闭了互连使用充电问题火车推迟交付的实现zero-IUC政权由一年将开始从2020年1月开始,由于“消费者采用4 g技术的不足和不对称流量”。
IUC——指责call-originating电信支付到目标运营商的网络调用终止——挂钩在Rs 6元/分钟。
监管机构在2017年提出了启动贝克(比尔和保持)系统从2020年1月,调用生成电信提出将数量而不是支付。
延期一直欢迎老运营商沃达丰的想法和Bharti Airtel网互连收入者收入给大多数Jio调用结束他们的网络使后者净支付。
立即通过推迟日期定于2020年1月报废制度,通过一年,火车,现在已经启用了两个负担运营商继续获得一些现金流的流。
政府BSNL-MTNL抛出的生命线
国家航空公司,BSNL历来被誉为一个国家战略资产终于政府点头在复兴计划着手拯救事业单位,自2010年以来一直响了损失。
10月,中央批准了70000卢比的复兴计划制定BSNL和MTNL合并以及其他重大措施分配4 g无线电波,资产货币化价值38000卢比,价值15000卢比的主权债券和自愿退休计划的结合2十万的员工将在工资账单节省约8800卢比的两个专业。
然而,复苏方案本身似乎并不足以平息担心出现在实现方面。
问题的影响减少劳动力拟议的合并实体的操作口径,拉拢潜在竞购者的货币化的过程,潜在的官僚延误审批等仍然继续回声清楚。
此外,ETT最近报道,该中心的农村移动连接计划约20956 .23卢比,像BharatNet,左翼极端主义II——还有几家正在考虑公开招标,允许私人玩家也可能导致BSNL被边缘化。
5克路:拍卖推迟而政府点头华为的参与
商业在印度推出雄心勃勃的5 g的技术一直在挂起多年来与延迟看似拉伸和超过2020。
而行业一直与政府冲突随着它所认为的高定价和稀疏频谱的可用性3.3 - -3.6 GHz乐队,金融淘汰赛的AGR有效地使运营商在这个财政无法投标。
尽管Airtel,沃达丰的想法,Jio和BSNL提交应用程序进行实地试验用点1月15日,业内专家还看到5 g以来到2022年印度电信公司拥有资产负债表伤痕累累的缺乏货币净空竞购最终的拍卖。
相比之下,就在新年的前两天,12月30日,政府允许中国选手华为(阅读所有供应商)进行田间试验与电信合作的球员。
此前印度长期的沉默在华为参与5 g部署的美国敦促印度禁止华为部署网络。印度,然而,终于在这个问题上的立场,因为它能保持战略平衡的两个主要贸易伙伴——中国和美国。
2020年开始要求援助 SC电信公司拒绝了缓刑的请求
SC在一个封闭的听证会上1月16日驳回了Airtel,沃达丰的想法和塔塔电信业务的请求,他们已经申请11月10月要求法院审查的AGR裁决。这之后,另一个请愿书的形式的修改请求已经提交的电信公司可能采取听证会上2月3日。
虽然Jio仅支付195卢比的AGR费在规定的日期时间在1月23日维尔和旅馆还没有拿出任何数量,因为他们坚持希望缓解即将到来的付款条件在法庭听证会上修改请求。
点目前还没有采取任何惩罚措施对电话公司没有会议1月23日的最后期限。
拒绝提供任何帮助运营商可能会导致两个播放器行业分析人士认为。维尔的困境可以看到退出行业公里贝拉曾说。
此外,欧盟预算之前,在2月1日,该行业目前正在拖累多个捐税据说要求政府援助的形式减少监管征税,税收和许可费用较低的利率来获得信贷。要求取消销售税从执照费和频谱使用费用也。
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