According to Goldman Sachs, Bharti Airtel may reduce data tariffs by up to 25 per cent in 2016-17 owing to the entry of Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited in the Indian telecom market. The financial firm, however, is of the view that Airtel remains well placed in the market as it can offer 4G services along with fallback option of 2G and 3G. The increased adoption of 4G services will offset the impact of tariff cuts on revenues.

Goldman Sachs further notes that Airtel has a much higher subscriber base allowing it to push for higher network operational expenditure than new entrants. In addition, the operator is expected to outspend other players in the market on non-spectrum capex front to improve its network capacity. The operator has already increased its spectrum holdings considerably in the previous auctions. Currently, it holds 947 MHz of spectrum across all bands in all the circles.