Jio Pushes Mutation in Indian Telecom

Indian telecom was quite dull in 2015-16 until Jio stepped in and started offering free services. Entry of Jio, the ambitious telecom project by country's richhest man Mukesh Ambani has forced the Indian telecom to undergo a major reshape.

The most obvious change is merger and acquisition of telecom companies - which makes the telecom market quite smaller. If all go right, India will have only 5-6 players -

• Reliance Jio
• Airtel (acquisition of Telenor India, Augere Wireless, Videocon (partially) and 4G spectrum of Tikona & Aircel)
• Vodafone-Idea (to be merged soon)
• RCom-Aircel-SSTL
• Tata Tele (rumor is they might merge with merged entity of RCOM-AIRCEL-SSTL)
• BSNL/MTNL (there are chances that both PSU may merge)

Among all, Vodafone & Idea's merger seems to create strongest entity which may give real tough competition to Jio and Airtel.​ R​Com​-A​ircel​-MTS(+Tata Tele) does not seem to be in a position to create a stir in the market as their present 4G coverage is based on RCom's 850 MHz band only​ and may they extend 4G to 1800MHz band; but the super-merged entity would not have any 4G network on 2300/2500 MHz where Jio, Airtel and Vodafone-Idea are placed too firmly. ​