“We kill each other in the market place every day and don’t give an inch,” is how Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman, Bharti Enterprises, describes competition amongst the existing players as India’s telecom space readies itself for a new player — Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio.
Stating that ‘afraid’ is a wrong word to describe competition, Mittal told BusinessLine , “My own view is that there will be one more player in the market. We have been there for years now, and have faced competition. In fact, we have competed against the brightest and the best such as Vodafone for the last several years.”
According to Mittal, it will be a battle on tariffs. On whether his confidence comes from having the first-mover advantage, he said, “The only reason for existence in the market is to serve the customer in the best possible manner and Airtel has been doing it for long …”
Fourth generation spectrum (4G) is where Ambani and Mittal will be competing the hardest. “The 25 per cent share at the bottom of the market is likely to get divided amongst the top five-six players and RJio is likely to get a share of that pool. And, in some sense, it is good for the industry, which will stabilise.” For this space also, “battles will be fought on the street every day among the players. Acceleration of 4G is happening by Idea and Vodafone, and some activities and action will happen. This is where we will also see players looking at their tariffs.”
“The competition is such that we don’t want competitor to eat into our space. We are trained to deal with competition.” Two years down the lane Mittal sees the telecom space in the hands of just four-five big players.
“Mukesh and I enjoy a good relationship. Both companies have invested a lot in networks and spectrum… It is good to see them using two of Airtel’s icons AR Rahman and Shah Rukh Khan for their soft launch…,” Mittal said in a lighter tone.