January 11, 2021
Pricing Rationality Is Starting To Return In Hyper Competitive Markets
Bharti Airtel Chairman Sunil Mittal believes India will be an important player in cutting-edge 5G technology but wants pricing to be investor-friendly. In a conversation with Business Standard, Mittal spoke about the urgent need to raise mobile tariffs, the industry’s interest in upcoming 4G spectrum auction, the company’s stand on 5G and the government move to bar Chinese equipment vendors in telecom.
Irrational pricing strategies look like they are abating.
The best example of this is in India where price points in 4G have cratered due to irrational activities of the Telcos as evidenced by the average price per GB : https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6699291116186943488/
You’ll see in the article that the Chairman of Bharti is reflecting on the need to make the wireless industry investable.
What is true in India is true in every market in the world, and the race to the bottom on 4G and 5G pricing is simply unsustainable.
What we will see for 5G in terms of data usage will be identical to what we witnessed in the move from dial-up Internet speeds to the 1st high speed internet connections.
5G Data usage is going to explode for the simple reason of the faster it is the more will be consumed.
You will also see people cutting the high speed internet cord (as they have cut the cable cord) and in single person living scenarios they will use their Smartphone to tether their Flat Screen TV’s and PC’s rather than paying twice for home internet connection.
The above statement is predicated on the ability of the Telcos to provide true 5G speeds and their continued desire to offer true unlimited rate plans (or if the speed caps are so great that it effectively is truly unlimited).
Pricing Rationality Is Starting To Return In Hyper Competitive Markets
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