Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Mittal has flagged off industry concerns over high litigation in the telecom sector and urged the government to have a simplified regulatory regime.

“I would like to request the government that one area where they need to lower the temperature of the industry is really in the area of litigation. A lot of litigation still remains,” said Mittal at the inaugural session of the Cellular Operators of India- organised India Mobile Congress event on Wednesday.

“We must have a regime which is simple in its regulatory touch and does not create more litigation going forward,” Mittal said in his address at the event.
He also rued that the sector duties remain high. “Spectrum remains expensive. I would appeal to the government to continuously look at this for the benefit of our digital dream,” Mittal said.

The Airtel chief also made a call for a more collaborative approach among operators.

“There is so much duplication in the industry, whether it is in the area of towers or fibre. We need to start to talk to each other, do co-builds like the world is doing, share more tower infrastructure .”

Reliance chairman Mukesh Ambani said that affordability of mobile devices can further drive digital inclusion. “Affordability has been a critical driver of phenomenally rapid expansion of the mobile subscriber base in India. India should move towards greater digital inclusion and not greater digital exclusion,” Ambani said at the COAI event.