700 MHz Base Price Makes it Unaffordable for Us: Airtel
New Delhi: Bharti Airtel on Friday said the base price proposed for 700 MHz spectrum makes it unaffordable for them to buy any of the airwaves in the band.
The country's top telecom operator also said the current voice tariffs are unsustainbly low and it will look at opportunities to increase prices.
"We believe the price which has been proposed for 700 MHz just makes it very expensive for us to buy any of the spectrum, so we believe that we cannot afford to buy that spectrum at that price," Bharti Airtel MD and CEO (India & South Asia) Gopal Vittal said during an investor call.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has recommended record base price of Rs 11,485 crore per MHz for 700 MHz. If all available frequencies get sold at the suggested price then it alone can contribute over Rs 4 lakh-crore.
Vittal, however, welcomed Trai's proposal on putting entire spectrum in 2100 MHz band for auction.
"We are pleased to see the regulator's proposal on putting 3 to 4 blocks of 2100 MHz spectrum. It's the right move to put all the spectrum for auction. This will decongest networks as well as improve voice quality and address call drop problem," he added.
The telecom company also applauded Trai regarding auction of 2300 MHz and 2500 MHz spectrum.
"This is a good capacity spectrum and we have some experience in managing this spectrum...we do have gaps in eight circles which we will be keen to fill at some point of time," Vittal said.
Regarding voice pricing, Vittal said the current rates are unsustainably low and need to move up.
"We are actually quite disappointed that voice pricing has eroded this quarter. It is a competitive market and in the past we have had serious competition from smaller players. In the last quarter, we also saw significant competition from leading players and that has led to decline in voice pricing, which is disappointing," Vittal said.
He added the company has been saying repeatedly for several quarters that its goals are to drive revenue growth, margins as well as market share.
"We will continue to look for opportunities to raise voice pricing and we are hopeful that the rest of the players also see some sanity in the way voice pricing today is being played," he added.
