Bombay:
Telecom operator Airtel on Thursday urged the government not to charge high fees for allocating 5G spectrum, saying a faster rollout of the next-generation telecommunications network could have more benefits than collecting revenues in costs incurred in advance.
Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman of Bharti Enterprises, which runs the country’s second-largest telco, said there are a variety of applications in different sectors ranging from healthcare to video interactions, making 5G a technology that can be deployed as soon as possible. will be introduced.
“5G is important and that’s why we continue to ask the government to make 5G as an enabler for hundreds of things we are developing in the country, to keep the spectrum at affordable prices, so as not to burden the industry too much,” said Mr. Mittal. said during a business conclave.
He argued that instead of spending money on spectrum acquisitions, service providers could invest in faster network rollouts, resulting in fast connectivity with lower latency.
“I will say that the multiplier impact that a faster, high-speed, low-latency network can have on a country is many times greater than what can be achieved by raising some money up front,” added Mr Mittal.
In the past, telcos have complained that high minimum prices were a deterrent, and high spectrum costs have been cited as one of the reasons the telecom sector has been in a bad financial position in recent years.