After data-led growth amid pandemic, tariff hiked; 5G expected in 2021

NEW DELHI: Accentuated Internet data usage amid the novel coronavirus pandemic turned out to be a silver lining for the financially-stressed telecom sector of India. Although the industry witnessed sharp erosion in its subscriber base initially during the lockdown, March-April, the work-from-home trend along with webinars and usage of video streaming platforms came as a boon for the sector. The Director General of the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), S.P. Kochhar said that many telecom players have benefitted from a surge in the traffic of data and voice, due to which the telecom sector is performing well compared to other infrastructure sub-sectors. He said that in the first quarter of this fiscal, customer spending on voice and data services increased 16.6 per cent year-on-year, amounting to Rs 35,642 crore. (IANS)

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