
The Chairman of Bharati Airtel, Sunil Mittal stated it would be unfortunate if India’s telecom sector would come down to just a two-private player telecom market from 12-odd earlier, suggesting indirectly towards Vodafone Idea and the struggle and loss it is currently facing to keep its head above water. He also mentioned at the Qatar Economic Forum on Tuesday that India being a large country “deserves” to have a minimum of 3 private telecommunication providers and that he has hopes about that being the situation.
Speaking about his company, Sunil Mittal mentioned that Airtel is getting stronger by the day and gaining market share. In addition to that Airtel has also reinforced its position in Africa. OneWeb, which is backed by Bharati has an upcoming satellite broadband operation that is considered to be “a game-changer and would complement” the ambitious growth of Airtel.
The Chairman of Bharati Airtel also said that OneWeb, as part of its global space internet initiative is establishing a low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation. This would add to Airtel’s growth by promoting connection to people via satellites even in remote and rural regions that were till now unable to access such technology.
OneWeb, supported by the Bharti Group in addition to the government of the UK is expected to launch satellite internet services in India starting June 2022.