In what should have been a major story that was buried under other headlines, India achieved a significant milestone in its Digital India programme when 100,000-gram panchayats, or village councils, across the country were connected through a high-speed optical fibre network called BharatNet.

India will be hosting an international level Indian Mobile Congress (IMC) event later this year. The project is the brainchild of the Department of Telecom (DoT), the Ministry of Electronics and IT and Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI).

Though spectrum in the 700 MHz band remains unsold, a few operators believe that demand for spectrum will remain healthy in the future as telecom companies beef up their services.

Rajan S Mathews, Director General, Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), talks about how the scope for further consolidation is going to continue to stress the industry for some time, the October airwaves sale, and the controversy around Reliance Jio´s entry.

The Indian mobile telephony industry currently has a cumulative debt of over Rs 300,000 crore with many operators even making negative returns on their investments.