DD India

India’s 5G network rollout has broken global records for its speed. Still, revenue for the telecom industry has yet to see a corresponding increase, according to the Director General of the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), S P Kochhar. 

He highlighted that the main challenge lies in that the applications responsible for 80 percent of network traffic are not contributing financially to the network’s costs.

Kochhar expressed the dilemma faced by telecom operators, stating their reluctance to burden consumers with increased costs while emphasizing that someone must shoulder the substantial investment required for expanding the network.

He pointed out that despite the remarkable pace of 5G deployment, the industry’s financial returns have not matched expectations. The private companies responsible for rolling out 5G infrastructure are seeking a return on their investments, which, unfortunately, has not materialized as expected. A few major entities are responsible for consuming a significant portion of the network’s bandwidth but are not contributing revenue.

Kochhar emphasized the importance of exempting micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) from the proposed changes while urging major bandwidth consumers to support the telecom infrastructure financially. The telecom industry underscored the crucial role of telecom networks in supporting startups, indicating that if the network deteriorates, startups will suffer.

Further, he said a desire for the government to accept their proposal in principle, to work out the details through mutual agreement in the future.