The government defending the ongoing consolidation among telecom operators has said that it will result in efficient use of spectrum for better services, and six players in each service area will have adequate competition. Communications Minister Manoj Sinha has said that “After the reported consolidation among the various Indian Telecom Service Providers, there will be enough competition in the sector as six players are expected to remain in each service area in the access services segment.”
Sinha further added that Mergers and Acquisitions (M&As) among operators do not cause fragmentation of spectrum but rather its consolidation for providing better services by efficient utilisation of the radiowaves.
The entry of Reliance Jio Infocomm led to market faster than expected consolidation with merger proposal of Telenor India and Bharti Airtel, acquisition of telecom business of Sistema Shyam Tele Services by Reliance Communications and the planned merger of two of the biggest telecom companies Vodafone India and Idea Cellular.