Sunil Mittal at Qatar Economic Forum, Doha

Years of bruising price competition has left only “two-and-a-half operators” in India’s telecom sector and it would be “tragic” if that reduced to two, Sunil Mittal, chairman of Bharti Airtel Ltd., India’s second-largest wireless operator, told the Qatar Economic Forum.

While billionaire Mittal’s firm has been gaining market share, it lags Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd., India’s largest network by subscriber numbers. A third player, Vodafone Idea Ltd., is hanging by a thread, with senior executives warning in the past that it may slip into bankruptcy.

That would not be a good result for the telecom sector or Indian consumers, Mittal said. “India is a very large country. It deserves to have three private sector players.” CT Bureau