Telecom Companies Cross 100-Crore Mark, But Call-Drop Spoils Party In 2015

Still, consumers can expect to save on mobile bills with availability of public wifi and pressure on internet rates due to expected entry of pan-India 4G player Reliance Jio.

Also, most of the incumbent players including Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea CellularBSE 0.43 pct have already their launched the 4G services.

Though data usage of consumers is likely to see a significant increase, the spending may not be in proportion to the usage with availability of public wifi.

"The pricing would be under pressure and 2016 could see intense completion on the price front, both for data and voice. Intense completion may give rise to innovative tariff plans including bundling offers, etc," Deloitte Haskins & Sells LLP Partner Hemant Joshi said.

The trend is expected to put pressure on financial health of telecom operators as the government has been talking tough on issues like quality of service and call drops and wants the companies to enhance their investment on infrastructure.

Bharti AirtelBSE 0.89 pct announced an investment to the tune of Rs 60,000 crore in networks over a period of next three years.

The first quarter of this year witnessed spectrum rights getting sold for 1.1 lakh crore. Government has now started preparing for the next round of spectrum auction, which includes sale of most premium radiowaves, likely to be conducted in the next year.

Credit rating agency Moody's expects Indian telecom sector to grow by 5-6 per cent in next 12-18 months.

"The higher growth in emerging markets such as India will be driven by increasing smartphone penetration and data consumption as well as higher expected GDP growth," Moody's Investors Service AVP- Analyst Nidhi Dhruv said.

As per Dhruv, Bharti Airtel will lead the growth with revenue rising by 8-10 per cent as it launched 4G services and the proliferation of affordable smartphones drives growth in data services.

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