Indian telecom industry actually skipped one-generation of tech-innovation by jumping ‘pagers’ as a product. The industry was supply-led until mid-1990s, with years of waiting for a ‘landline phone connection’ and telecom connectivity seen as a luxury service. With the advent of mobile telephony and the subsequent drop in unit-pricing, telecom became a volume industry and a basic-human-need product. Telecom players need disruptive technology upgrades and network capability expansion — both of which need capex . It would make for meaningful competition in the telecom sector with no more worries about duopoly.

Source: The Hindu January 13, 2022 02:38 UTC