Idea Cellular is in talks with various outsourcing partners including IT partner IBM and tower leasing vendor GTL Infrastructure, in order to decrease the costs of operations and improve profitability. It is demanding GTL Infra to reduce rentals that are now higher than the current market rate because of the gradual escalation in the past five years.
The entity is planning to slash costs as profitability is under pressure because of airwave and license fees, imposition of charges by the Department of Telecommunications, and competition, which has kept call rates on the decline for over half a decade.
