Idea Cellular set to become India’s top carrier, but it’s tough times for telecoms
Mumbai — Billionaire Kumar Mangalam Birla, whose Idea Cellular is poised to become India’s top carrier, sees only a handful of businesses surviving a price war roiling the world’s second largest telecoms market. The chairman of the Aditya Birla Group also won’t hazard a guess on when the industry shake-out will end in a country where calls already cost less than 2c a minute — and are sometimes offered free. "The telecoms sector is undergoing a very turbulent and difficult phase," Birla said in an interview this week. "Probably the fittest three will survive." India’s mobile operators have seen revenue plummet and debt soar after last year’s launch of Reliance Jio Infocomm, a wireless carrier owned by Mukesh Ambani, the country’s richest man. That triggered a bruising price war for mobile services. Jio started offering free calls and many others in the industry followed. Idea Cellular is set to become the biggest player by subscribers after it closes its merger with the local unit of...
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