Focus needs to shift from infrastructure creation to reuse of resources and innovation
Bad regulation in India is an equal opportunity offender.
While those like MTS struggle for their very right to exist in India, older incumbents like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea are currently staring at the prospect of being “retroactively” charged an estimated Rs. 37,000 crore each for 10 years-worth of “excess spectrum” held by them. As state-owned BSNL is being progressively run to the ground, earnest private operators like Tata Teleservices have been waiting for start-up spectrum in a key market like Delhi for over four years. When a foolhardy new entrant pops up, like US-headquartered Qualcomm did last year; and when it bid $1 billion for 4G licenses in four lucrative markets, its application was rejected for thoroughly frivolous reasons.
(This story appears in the 02 March, 2012 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)