AIRTEL’S MITTAL VOWS TO UNITE TELECOM SECTOR

NEW DELHI: Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Mittal on Thursday vowed to take the lead in bringing the industry together to unleash India’s telecom dream.

A day after the government announced reforms in the telecom sector, the telecom czar said he had reached out to Vodafone’s Nick Read and will also speak to Reliance Industries Ltd chairman Mukesh Ambani on the road ahead.

Mittal exhorted the industry to collaborate in areas such as infrastructure sharing to reduce costs but ruled out the possibility of any cartelization.

Amid reports of its potential tie-ups with handset makers to counter Jio’s coming ultra-lowcost smartphone, Mittal said Airtel is in a state of “readiness” on an affordable smartphone “should a need arise”.

Calling on the industry to join forces to take the telecom sector to newer heights, Mittal, at a virtual briefing, said he would like to take the lead in ensuring that the industry works closely together.

Conversations will be about the industry’s health and market distribution structure, but not on tariffs, he said.

“How can it be that when you have to have more market share against each other, how can you have tariff discussion? Impossible,” he said.

Mittal said he had spoken to Vodafone CEO and will also reach out to Reliance Industries’ chairman. “I reached out to Nick Read yesterday, and I will reach out to Mukesh Ambani and speak to him and ensure that industry truly becomes role model for many other infrastructure industries in the country,” Mittal said.