Are Adani and Ambani About to Compete in Telecom?

It was too peaceful to last. A period of peace and calm had just begun in India's Telecom Industry after a sustained and brutal destruction of capital. The three survivors from a dozen on the scene in 2016 must have been relieved to see the end of a crippling price war. The next round of investment would be supported by stable market shares and decent per-user revenue.
So imagine the excitement when it was announced that billionaire Gautam Adani — the port and airport owner who has had nothing to do with telecom so far — will bid for 5G spectrum in this month's auction.

Mukesh Ambani, another tycoon, disrupted India's wireless market six years ago with cheap data and free calls. With 410 million subscribers, he is now the market leader. Add services like digital advertising, e-health, and mobile education to core telco revenue, where big rewards are still years away. According to Jefferies, Ambani's Jio Platforms Ltd., in which Meta Platforms Inc. and Alphabet Inc. are investors, is a $95 billion enterprise, 17 percent larger than the hydrocarbons empire he inherited from his father.