Policy booster likely for telecom companies

Operators to spend $20 billion for network upgrades: COAI

The government is working on a new policy to encourage capital spending and restore the financial health of mobile-phone operators battered by a bruising tariff war, Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan said.

Public consultation will begin by year-end and Cabinet approval is expected by March, she said in an interview in New Delhi, declining to share details. Voicing a key industry demand, billionaire Sunil Mittal, who controls Bharti Airtel, said on Thursday that policymakers should reconsider norms, which effectively charge companies twice for spectrum. The price war may continue through the first half of 2018, he said.

“We are certainly looking at how