Mumbai, March 19: Consumers would have to bear the brunt of ongoing aggressive bidding for telecom spectrum, which would force mobile operators to hike tariff, prominent rating agency, Care Ratings, said in a dire warning Thursday.
“We expect that operators will further leverage themselves, while customers would have to bear the brunt of tariff hikes which would become inevitable for operators to realise returns on these huge investments,” said the domestic rating agency. Some analysts have been saying that competitive pressures, especially the entry of Reliance Jio, would ensure that there would be minimum tariff hike. Bids by companies led by Idea Cellular, Vodafone, Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications as well as the yet to be launched Reliance Jio, have topped Rs 1,08,000crore as of Wednesday after 13 days of intense bidding. This is a lot more than the amount realised from the last auction in 2010 and much above the government’s reserve price of Rs 82,000crore.
In a note, CARE said that companies bid aggressively because of the impending expiry of spectrum and this has resulted in buying spectrum to ensure continuity of business. Licences for Idea Cellular’s 9 circles, Airtel’s 6 circles and 7 circles each of Vodafone and RCom are coming up for renewal, the note said, adding that a significant percentage of revenues for players are at stake. Idea derives 74 per cent of its revenues from these 9 circles, Airtel 35 per cent, Vodafone 48 per cent and RCom – 15 per cent, it said.
The ongoing auction would result in more pressure on the companies’ debt profile, and they are already under pressure. Companies are required to pay 25-33 per cent upfront on their winning bids, CARE said, adding this would accrue in revenues of Rs 25,000crore for the govt this fiscal. PTI