The top Management of Bharti Airtel suggested that it was reasonably content with the present spectrum holdings, which allows it pan-India 3G and 4G coverage. In addition, management suggested that it may look at adding 3G spectrum selectively for capacity.
The company is of the view that 3G is relatively better than 4G on availability of ecosystem and margin profile as it allows the company to leverage existing 2G infrastructure. We believe the company may selectively add 700 MHz in markets where it is priced at par or lower to 900 MHz spectrum as it could help Airtel address coverage issues and indoor data coverages in a few markets, particularly where it cannot use 900 for 3G deployments.
Airtel Towers Connect with OFC Backhaul - Whilst the company didn?t provide the actual number on the quantum of sites which are fiberized, it did suggest that the ability to leverage the home broadband business infrastructure allows it to have comfortable fibre holdings in most metro markets except Mumbai.
