In a veiled attack on newcomer Reliance Jio, telecom major Bharti Airtel on Tuesday said free offers by telcos would hit all stakeholders, including lenders, and Government revenue. “In the short to medium term, free offers will impact all stakeholders including Government levies and taxes, lender with debt exposure of over Rs400,000 crore to the industry,” Bharti Airtel Global Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Nilanjan Roy said during company’s earning call.
He alleged that ‘predatory pricing’ by new operators has led to ‘unprecedented drop in the industry revenue table for the first time since its inception, jeopardising the financial health of poster child - the Indian telecom industry’. Bharti Airtel, India’s largest mobile services provider, has reported its lowest profit in four years in the third quarter of FY2016-17 as demonetisation and intense competition from Reliance Jio hit revenues. Consolidated net profit in October-December fell 54 per cent to Rs503.7 crore as against Rs1,108.1 crore in the same period a year ago, the company said in a statement.
“To say that we are living in interesting time would be an understatement. In India, the continuation of free pricing by a new operator has led to tsunami of traffic to the network impacting overall data revenue and voice realisation,” Roy said.