RELIANCE COMM SEES INDIA TELECOM CONSOLIDATION

Intensifying competition in the Indian telecom sector, the world’s fastest growing in mobile sign ups, should kick off an industry consolidation in two years, a senior official at Reliance Communications said.

With four firms, including ventures of Norway’s Telenor and United Arab Emirates’ Etisalat, set to start operations in India this year, existing players led by Reliance and Bharti Airtel have slashed call charges to lure users.

India, which has 11 mobile operators, has this year added an average 14 million mobile users a month. Analysts say still there is huge potential as only 40 people of every 100 own mobile phones from a population of more than a billion.

Reuters/Livemint