Telecom Industry Conundrum – The Chronicles of an Unsavory Competition
The telecom industry and data has been one of the hottest topics of late. The data war dates back to 2016 when Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd., half-owned by India’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani entered the market and relentlessly undercut Vodafone and the other leading carrier, Bharti Airtel Ltd. Vodafone Idea has been struggling to keep its head above water and is lobbying for government intervention to correct a market that’s been skewed by freebies thrown around by Ambani’s Jio. Back in the day most telecom companies operated under the presumption that data was going to remain an expensive commodity. Basically, they were convinced that they could charge customers exorbitant rates to provide calling and internet services and that this would continue to be the status quo for the foreseeable future. So they sold expensive plans, offered bare minimum services and were happy to continue enjoying their time. On the other end, they were also overpaying for almost everything majo