Duopoly not good, must have competition in every sector: Scindia

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Union Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Tuesday said duopoly is not good and there must be competition in every sector.

Speaking at an event of Broadband India Forum, the minister said there is intense competition in the country among internet service providers and the government will issue rules for delicensing 6 gigahertz spectrum before August 15 that will be used for wifi services and bridging of digital divide.

"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. 

 

Earlier in the event, former telecom regulator Trai Chairman RS Sharma said there is almost a duopoly in the telecom sector with just two active service providers and there is need to provide more route for giving broadband access to consumers at affordable rates.

At present, Indian telecom sector is being dominated by Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio who are actively providing 4G and 5G services.

Debt-ridden Vodafone Idea has expressed apprehension on its survival in a petition filed before the Supreme Court. 

 

State-run BSNL is yet to roll out 4G and 5G services at pan-India level.

Scinda said the country has fiber technology for broadband, wifi and soon there will be satellite services.

"(We) Must have competition in every sector," Scindia said.

He said spectrum will be soon assigned to satellite players on administrative basis for satellite communications services.

The minister did not disclose the timeline for the allocation of spectrum for satcom services.