| Agreed - a primer for people interested in the Indian telecom story: Indian telecom had one terrible moment which ended a near dream run for consumers. Prior to the SC auction verdict we had a huge amount of competition. Getting telecom market structure right is a hard thing to do, because there are always people working hard to pervert the system. America has an auction where famously, telcos his the PIN codes for the areas they wanted in the auction bids. This verdict ensured that many firms pulled out and significant market consolidation took place, till we went from a multitude of firms to 3 + BSNl. At the point you have three firms, you have cartel behavior. Then came yet another SC verdict which was devastating (arrears due to the govts was based on total profits, not just on spectrum related profits.) This is why they were asking for help. And finally Jio. Jio is doing a perfect job competing in its full throated style to end at least one of the debt burdened and teetering competition. Sadly they also oppose net neutrality, and have had some amazing shenanigans ignored entirely by the regulator. It’s not a good time for Indian telecom consumers. |