India's largest mobile operator Bharti Airtel has indicated that entry of newcomer Reliance Jio could lead to lowering of prices to some extent, but ruled out across-the-board free voice calls for all mobile plans.
Terming the telecom sector as a "brutally competitive market", said that while competitors kept the company on its toes, it was not "obsessed" with them.
If the question is are you going to see price erosion... I think given that you have a new entrant on the horizon, yes, you will see some price erosion. Because that is the game new entrant will play.Gopal Vittal, MD and CEO, India and South Asia, Bharti Airtel
Asked if the company will be announcing voice free for life, just like rival Jio has, Vittal said:
If you are only buying voice, how will one do that?Gopal Vittal, MD and CEO, India and South Asia, Bharti Airtel
Interestingly, reports this week have highlighted Airtel also plans to adopt VoLTE technology. The telecom operator has joined forces with Nokia for this, and it is expected that the roll-out will be available to all its 19 circles.
What This Means?
Airtel is the first among the incumbents to talk up its VoLTE plans. While Vittal has clearly indicated that free voice calls are not possible, it remains to be seen if Airtel on VoLTE benefits from the same technology that has enabled Jio to make voice calling free, charging users only for the 4G data.
Could this also enable millions of Jio users to finally enjoy HD calling to Airtel’s network?
However, by adopting VoLTE, Airtel users will only get to use the network only when they are on a 4G network.
Things are becoming feisty, whichever way you look at it but, safe to say that India is slowly but surely moving to a 4G VoLTE ecosystem, with others to follow suit in the near future.
(With agency inputs) Source: ET Telecom
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