Airtel revenue may fall by 1% post roaming cost cut: PhillipCap

Bharti Airtel's revenues may see a meagre 1 percent decline following its move to drop national roaming charges, said Naveen Kulkarni of PhillipCapital. Roaming charges, both international and national, constitute around 4 percent of revenues for the telecom giant.Kulkarni added that the tariff war has only become. He expects a lot of pressure on tariffs in the telecom sector for the next one to two years. Voice realisations in this period are going to witness a sharp decline.The telecom industry has been in consolidation mode, after Reliance Jio disrupted the sector by providing unlimited free voice and data. While industry giants Vodafone India and Idea Cellular plan a merger, Bharti Airtel recently acquired Telenor's India wing to become more competitive.Kulkarni is of the opinion that Reliance Jio finally becoming paid does not spell good news for incumbents. He instead says that the Rs 303 scheme introduced by Mukesh Ambani last week is very competitive and so will continue to maintain pressure on exisiting operators.Watch video for more.