Beleaguered Voda Idea may get relief as Scindia says duopoly in telecom 'not good'

NEW DELHI: At a time when beleaguered Vodafone Idea seeks govt support for survival, Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Tuesday said duopoly is not good for the sector and there must be competition in the industry.
"Our job is to provide as many avenues as possible and within each vertical as well, provide intense competition. It's not good enough having a duopoly of one carrier or two carriers," Scindia said at an event of Broadband India Forum.
Apart from state-run BSNL, there are three private operators, with Reliance Jio and Airtel running strong, while Vodafone Idea is financially crippled despite utilising several bailouts that saw the govt pick up a 49% stake in the company towards future payouts.
Scindia’s statement comes amidst speculation that the govt is looking at providing a new bailout package to the telecom industry , especially Vodafone Idea and Airtel, which were hit hard by the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) penalty running into thousands of crores of rupees. The companies failed to get relief from the Supreme Court and are now looking at the govt for some support.
Vodafone Idea, which has debt in excess of Rs 2 lakh crore and already availed a moratorium on statutory payments to the department of telecom (DoT), is seeking yet another relief package to stay afloat. The minister’s statement on having three private players should come in as a support for the company.
Vodafone Idea expressed apprehension about its survival in the petition filed before the Supreme Court. BSNL, on the other hand, is yet to roll out 4G and 5G services at a pan-India level.
Scindia said the country has fibre technology for broadband, Wi-Fi, and soon there will be satellite services. "(We) must have competition in every sector," he said, adding that spectrum will soon be assigned to satellite players on an administrative basis for beginning services.
The Minister said there is intense competition among internet service providers and the govt will issue rules for delicensing 6 gigahertz spectrum before August 15 that will be used for Wi-Fi services and bridging the digital divide.