Telcos investment recovery in limbo as tariff hike backfires, price war with satcom services likely in 2025
New Delhi, December 28, 2024.The country's private telecom operators face twin challenges on investment recovery in the New Year – customers leaving their network after tariff hikes and satellite players mainly Elon Musk's Starlink eyeing a chunk of their bread and butter data business.Private operators have invested around Rs 70,000 crore in telecom infrastructure and radiowave assets this year to expand the coverage of next-generation 5G services which is one of the main highlights of 2024 for the sector.To recover investments and protect margins, private telcos resorted to tariff hikes in mid-year but that move backfired.