Right government policies will drive digital transformation: Sunil Mittal

New Delhi, Sep 27 (IANS) Bharti Airtel Chairman Sunil Mittal on Wednesday said India has the potential to become the world's largest telecom market but the industry would require congenial government policies to do so.

"India has the potential to become world's largest telecom market. But none of us can do it alone. We have to collaborate among us. We have the eco-system... use common towers, fibres. The industry will not be able to do it alone. We need to combine with the government. Government policies will have to eventually decide how fast this digital wave in this country can propel," Mittal said while addressing the India Mobile Congress 2017 here.

"The government of India is aware that the hard infrastructure is going to take a lot of time to be built. Physical infrastructure has its limitations. It is the digital platform that the government has rightly picked up as the corner-stone of transforming India," he added.

Mittal urged the government to help the industry find ways and means of getting easy Right of Way. He said that though the industry got a lot of support from the central government, laying of fibre-optic cables in streets and roads in the states still remained a hurdle.

He also pointed out that though the government has allowed putting up of mobile towers atop its buildings, the permission in this regard is not granted easily.

Talking about the industry's investments, Mittal said Airtel has invested over Rs 10,000 crore up till September in hard infrastructure.

Speaking on 5G, the Bharti Airtel Chairman said as 5G begins to develop globally, India is keeping track and will be rewarded with the latest technology.