Punjab, Sept. 15 -- Airtel and Jio have accused Vodafone Idea of unfair practices, putting India's two dominant operators publicly on the same side against the third.
Why the alignment matters more than the allegation
Airtel and Jio compete fiercely with each other on price, spectrum and subscriber share. When both publicly target the same third party, the interesting question is what they agree on.
India's telecom market has consolidated to a point where three private operators remain. Two are financially strong; one has spent years managing debt, statutory dues and subscriber decline. Any relief extended to the weakest player changes the competitive arithmetic for the other two.
The structural stake
A two-player private market and a ...