This suggestion by Sunil Mittal, if followed, can be good news for global telecom industry

Chairman of global telecom body GSMA, Sunil Bharti Mittal, proposed for separate entities to pool spectrum.

While speaking the Mobile World Congress (MWC), Mittal called on global telecom players to pool spectrum in entities that could be run by third-party network operators.

This proposal comes at a time when telecom players are looking to drive down costs.

“Mobile phone operators all over the world need to step up active sharing of resources such as spectrum, alleviate the fear of high roaming charges, improve billing transparency and consolidate to attract investors and boost return on capital employed (RoCE),” said Mittal while speaking to select media on the sidelines of MWC.

Meanwhile, Mittal said telecom sector’s growth should be incentivised.

"This industry invests a massive amount of money, roughly about $200 billion, in networks a year globally. Besides, about $50-60 billion goes into spectrum annually,” he said, adding “The density of expenses in terms of capex, spectrum is going up whereas revenue is tapering off, which is putting a massive amount of pressure on RoCE (return on capital employed) of this industry, which has lost its appeal to investors.”