No plan to merge Vodafone Idea and BSNL, says Scindia

By July, BSNL will install all 100,000 towers. We will then measure the quality of services. Jyotiraditya Scindia Union communications minister

- Jatin Grover

The Centre is not considering any further equity infusion in Vodafone Idea after conversion of the company's dues worth ₹36,950 crore into equity. In an interaction with Mint, Union communications minister Jyotiraditya Scindia also said there are no plans to merge the company with state-owned BSNL.

On the broader sector, Scindia, who is set to complete one year as minister in the government, said that operators have reached a level of healthy bottom lines and have higher average revenue per user (Arpu), following previous relief measures from the government.

Edited excerpts:

Two players are aggressively increasing their market share. Do you think the telecom sector is moving towards a duopoly?

At the end of the day, the customer has to have a choice. The fact is that we do have four players in India. Across the world, there is probably not even a handful of countries that have four players working in the market. In any market, there are a few major players and a few minor players.

That is the nature of any fiercely competitive industry. The fact is that the market itself provides the choice, and it is not the government that is providing the market with the choice.

There are millions of customers on Vodafone Idea and BSNL networks and the government has not mandated them to be on their network.

The government has stakes in two companies-BSNL and Vodafone Idea. Isn't that inefficient in some way?