India to have 920 million unique mobile subscribers by 2025, including 88 million 5G connections. Govt's proposed base price for the auction of spectrum for 5G networks too high, says COAI.
As per global telecom industry body GSMA, India is expected to have 920 million unique mobile subscribers by 2025, including
88 million 5G connections.
FYI: India had close to 750 million unique subscribers at the end of 2018.
Over this period, India alone is expected to generate almost a quarter of the world’s new mobile subscribers.
Unaffordable: Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has said that the government's proposed base price for the auction of spectrum for next-generation 5G networks is too high (more than even global discovered prices), and will be a
"serious impediment" to the uptake of 5G in India.
5G networks are seen as vital for emerging technologies like self-driving cars and artificial intelligence.
We Oppose the Move: The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) plans to oppose the sale of airwaves, held by telcos during the insolvency resolution process.
This move is likely to make Aircel and Reliance Communications less attractive to buyers and hit their lenders.
As per DoT, the spectrum belongs to the government and it does not come under the definition of property of the telco.
Government is the licensor of the airwaves and is the only one authorized to sell it through auctions.
INFRA
Nitin Gadkari plans to infuse INR15,00,000cr in building a grid of highways, declares “rolling out stuck projects in 100 days” on priority list.
Go-Getter: Union Minister Nitin Jairam Gadkari, in his first interview to PTI after taking charge of Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) said the mission ahead was to further propel the country's economic growth through concerted efforts, be it in highways or MSME.
According to plans, the work taken up will be worth at least
INR15L cr in highways, and will include building 22 green expressways, rolling out all stuck projects in the next 100 days and creating a 'grid of roads' at par with the power grid.
His aim is to take the highway building target to 40 km a day from the present 32 km per day.
Additionally, the BJP leader said his endeavour would be to globalise khadi and his new ministry, MSME’s products through joint ventures. He was also keen on mass-scale honey production besides promoting products such as Moringa.
MERGER
Renault-Fiat Chrysler merger collapses, French government blamed.
Renault has said that its Board was unable to press ahead with the deal because the representatives of the French government had requested a postponement of the vote.
Bruno le Maire, the French Finance Minister stated on Thursday that the government wanted guarantees over Renault jobs, a headquarters in Paris and corporate governance. According to him, the French state had engaged constructively with all partners in the negotiations, but that agreement had not been reached on all the government’s conditions for a deal.
The Other Side: Fiat Chrysler stated on Wednesday, “it has become clear that the political conditions in France do not currently exist for such a combination to proceed successfully."
The deal would have created the world's third-largest car-maker, only behind Volkswagen and Toyota.
(Don't want to miss out on these End Of Day Wrap Ups? Subscribe Now to our WhatsApp Feed and get the day's Top Business stories straight on your favourite messaging app.)
