Should Vodafone die?
This post relates to current situation in Indian Telecom industry. Recently courts have decided that the telcos should pay more to govt as part of AGR revenue. The telecom sector was inefficient for last few years with outrageous data charges, pathetic service and huge indebtedness due to high spectrum charges and regulatory boondoggles. 2G spectrum auction was a big screwup by govt. And later rapid introduction of 3G and 4G meant the incumbent telcos did not manage to recover what they spent on spectrum. Next came Jio and caused bankruptcies all around. Most small telcos shut shop. Others brought in loans and funding partners and some merged. Now current position is Vodafone Idea - which merged last year, are going to go kaput if they are made to pay 90000Cr Rs in next 3 months. Airtel has more than 1Lac Cr of debt. Heck, even Jio has around 40000 Cr of debt. So now only way is for fares to go up. And after bit more consolidation, they will go up. But where is the quality? And I th...