India will not see a monopoly or duopoly in the telecom sector with state-owned BSNL emerging as a ‘very stable’ player, Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has said.Speaking at the Express Adda on Saturday, he allayed concerns of a duopoly emerging in the market with weakening financials and dropping market share of Vodafone Idea Ltd. “No, we are not heading towards a monopoly. Even a duopoly will not be there. BSNL is coming up as a very stable player in the market,” he said when asked whether the state of affairs in Vodafone Idea and the current financial struggles faced by Airtel would leave Reliance Jio the single dominant mobile telephony player.
The telecom market currently has three private players – billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea Ltd. Jio’s disruptive entry has helped it to become the largest operator in the country and it is now leading the 5G rollout. Sunil Bharti Mittal’s Airtel is competing with Jio while Vodafone Idea is yet to announce a 5G rollout plan due to financial stress. Vaishnaw said state-owned BSNL is stabilising operationally. “They have started making operating profits now. It’s a turnaround story for BSNL,” the minister said. He said the technology BSNL is going to use, India’s 4G and 5G stack, is a step above similar technologies across the world.

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