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“I think it’s fair to say that for the last two years, we’ve had many regulatory outcomes that have worked against everyone in the market, except Jio, and we only ask for a level playing field in terms of regulation,” Read said, on the sidelines of the Mobile World Congress on Monday.
Vodafone’s top executive appeared to be alluding to a clutch of contentious regulations issued by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai<\/a>) over the past two years.
Trai and the new entrant though have rejected all such allegations.
Some of the controversial decisions and regulations include a 57% cut in interconnect usage charge (IUC) to 6 paise a minute that had hurt revenue of older incumbents, while lowering costs for Jio. Then, the regulator’s recommendation to slap penalties of Rs 3,050 crore on Bharti Airtel<\/a>, Vodafone India<\/a> and Idea Cellular<\/a> for allegedly denying adequate points of interconnect (PoIs) to Jio, has been challenged by Vodafone in court.
Then, a Trai order that changed the rules to identify predatory pricing, and also mandated reporting of all segmented offers, was decried by older telcos as one which would stymie their competitiveness against Jio. Late last year, the telecom tribunal junked the order.
Vodafone’s Read said telecom sector pricing in India remained “artificially low” and won’t be sustainable, in that, at some point, all three (dominant) players — Vodafone Idea, Airtel and Jio — would need to sit down and discuss the matter.
“The pricing environment is artificial as all three operators are haemorrhaging cash, and therefore at some point, pricing needs to return to a more normalised level,” he said.
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‘Blocking Huawei not Good for Industry’<\/strong>
The telecom industry is weighed down by nearly Rs 8 lakh crore debt and still battling price wars triggered by Jio, which entered the market over two years ago and disrupted it with free voice calls and low data prices.
Older carriers were forced to match rates to retain customers, putting immense pressure on revenue and profit. Fringe players exited while erstwhile Vodafone India and Idea Cellular, then the second and third-largest carriers, were forced to merge, leaving only three major private players in the market.
The merged entity as well as Airtel have been posting losses for their respective India businesses, with Jio the only profitable telco. But all three have run up substantial debt levels, and uncomfortable leverage ratios and looking to raise cash by selling assets such as towers and fibre.
The Vodafone Group CEO said India had gone through tough times, although the long-term situation appeared better, with post-sector consolidation and emergence of three evenly strong players.
“Pricing is lowest in the world for data. Average consumer is consuming 12 GB at price points you don’t see anywhere else. Ultimately pricing will go up, that does not mean it jumps, it will moderate. Now heavy discounting is going on,” Read said.
He reiterated that it was too early to auction 5G airwaves in India, amid continuing financial stress in the industry.
In fact, he does not envision healthy industry participation in an early 5G spectrum sale, given that “people are in a very challenged economic environment”, adding that it’s critical for the “industry to get into a healthier place” first.
Vodafone Idea, he said, is making “really good progress” on its dual networks integration, which has been accelerated from “four to two years”.
“We want to invest in and integrate networks because there is a lot of data traffic and we need performance,” he said.
He added that the mega Indus Towers-Bharti Infratel merger will close by May. The company may sell its stake in the combined entity to raise funds to invest in networks.
Read also said it’s too early to deploy 5G networks amid low compatible handset availability. “If we bring in 5G services now, we won’t be using high amounts of handsets, whereas in another 2-3 years, that would be the right way.”
UK’s Vodafone Group also feels blocking Huawei would not be good for the telecom industry, amid the bitter clash between the US and China over network security and accusations from President Donald Trump’s administration that the Chinese networks vendor had enabled state espionage by Beijing.
“Huawei plays a major role in the supply chain within our industry. We have three major clients providing equipment now, and if we concentrate down to two players, that is an unhealthy position not just for us as an industry but also national infrastructure in the country,” Read said.
(The reporter is in Barcelona to attend Mobile World Congress 2019 at the invitation of Qualcomm<\/a>.)<\/em>
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“我认为这是公平地说,在过去的两年里,我们有许多监管的结果对每个人的工作市场,除了Jio,我们只问一个公平的竞争环境的规定,“读说,周一的全球移动大会间隙。
沃达丰高管似乎暗指一系列有争议的规定出具印度电信管理局(火车在过去的两年里。
火车和新进入者虽然拒绝了所有这些指控。
一些有争议的决定,规定包括削减57%的互连使用电荷(IUC) 6 paise伤害了收入的现任者一分钟,同时为Jio降低成本。然后,监管机构的建议征收罚款3050卢比Bharti Airtel,沃达丰印度和知道细胞因涉嫌否认Jio充足点互连(PoIs),在法庭上挑战了沃达丰。
火车的顺序,改变了规则识别掠夺性定价,并强制报告的分段,被老电信公司谴责为一个将对Jio阻挠他们的竞争力。去年年底,电信法庭报废的订单。
沃达丰的阅读表示,印度电信业定价仍“人为”,不会是可持续的,在这一点上,在某种程度上,所有三个(主要)球员-沃达丰的想法,Airtel和Jio——需要坐下来讨论此事。
“定价环境是人为的所有三个运营商大出血现金,因此在某种程度上,价格需要回到更正常的水平,”他说。
阻止华为不利于行业的
电信行业拖累近十万的8卢比仍然债务和对抗Jio引发的价格战,这在两年前进入市场,扰乱了免费语音通话和数据价格较低。
大航空公司被迫匹配率保留客户,对收入和利润施加巨大的压力。边缘球员退出昔日的沃达丰印度和创意细胞,第二和第三大航空公司被迫合并,只留下三个主要的私人玩家市场。
合并后的实体以及Airtel发布各自的印度企业的损失,与Jio唯一盈利的电信。但这三个积累巨额债务的水平,和不舒服的杠杆比率,希望通过出售资产来筹集资金,如塔和纤维。
沃达丰集团的CEO说,印度已经经历了艰难时期,尽管长期情况出现好转,post-sector整合和三个均匀的出现强大的球员。
“定价是世界上最低的数据。普通消费者消费12 GB的价格点其他地方你看不到。最终价格将会上涨,这并不意味着它跳跃,它将温和。现在重贴现,”说。
他重申,还为时过早拍卖5 g电波在印度,在持续的财政压力。
事实上,他不想像健康产业参与早期5 g频谱拍卖,因为“人们非常挑战的经济环境”,并称它是至关重要的为“行业进入一个更健康的地方”。
沃达丰的想法,他说,“非常好的进展”的双重网络集成,已加快从“四两年”。
“我们希望投资和集成网络,因为有很多数据流量,我们需要表现,”他说。
他补充说,大型印度河Towers-Bharti鼓吹合并将在5月关闭。该公司可能出售其股份合并后的实体筹集资金投资于网络。
阅读还说还为时过早部署5 g网络兼容的手机在低可用性。“如果我们把5 g服务现在,我们不会使用大量的手机,而在另一个2 - 3年,这将是正确的方式。”
英国沃达丰集团也觉得阻止华为不会对电信行业,在美国和中国之间的激烈冲突在网络安全性和主席唐纳德·特朗普指责政府,中国的网络间谍活动由北京供应商已启用状态。
“华为在供应链中扮演着重要的角色在我们的行业。现在我们有三个主要客户提供设备,如果我们集中到两名球员,这是一种不健康的位置不仅对我们作为一个行业,而且国家基础设施,”说。
(记者参加全球移动大会2019年巴塞罗那的邀请高通)。
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