For the past 25 years, tele.net has faithfully tracked and reported all the major developments in the sector, thus getting a ring-side view of key industry events as they unfolded. For this very special issue, we decided to revisit the past and capture the most important developments of the past 25 years. We, moreover, decided to base this not on our own analysis, but on a survey of top sector experts. We reached out to a cross-section of people, who have been closely involved with the sector and have held key positions in it. The respondents were asked to identify both the achievements and the failures of the sector as well as the changes and challenges expected over the next several years. They were also asked to name the people who have had the biggest impact on the sector in the past 25 years. Three names came out on the top, one more ahead than the others.
Presented below is the experts’ take on the past, the present and the future of the telecom sector.…
- The top three successes of the sector were identified as the fastest 5G roll-out globally, the lowest tariffs in the world, and the smartphone uptake driving digitalisation.
- The entry of Reliance Jio was viewed as the biggest game changer for the sector. Meanwhile, policy reforms such as liberalisation and privatisation, unified licensing, revenue sharing, auctioning of spectrum and The Telecommunications Act, 2023 were viewed as pathbreaking developments.
- In terms of disappointments, the 2G spectrum scam and the consequent exit of global players were seen as the biggest ones. Meanwhile, high taxes, levies and spectrum prices; financial stress; poor quality of service (QoS) and network issues; low rural penetration; and low fiberisation emerged as the topmost challenges impeding sector growth.
- Looking ahead, artificial intelligence, satellite internet and 6G are being seen as the most promising technologies for the future. Data centres, satcom, cloud services, private networks and cybersecurity are expected to be the top five future growth segments.
