Bharti Airtel stands to gain the most from spectrum sharing: Piyush Jain, Morningstar

In a chat with ET Now, Piyush Jain, Morningstar, talks about the government's nod to spectrum sharing by telecom companies. Excerpts:

ET Now: Is the nod to spectrum trading in line with expectations? Is Reliance Communication now in line for a re-rating?

Piyush Jain: It is definitely in line with expectations. The M&A norms are also likely to come in after a while. It will eventually inevitably lead to consolidation in the industry.

It is good for Reliance Communications, because it most likely has a spectrum combination with Reliance Jio. That is what we are expecting.

The larger players are going to benefit, because they will now be able to buy airwave in different circles. It will boost spectrum availability for them, and increase their efficiency. The more contiguous spectrum they get, the more efficiency they will have.

ET Now: Your call on the stocks of RComm, Bharti and Idea now?



Piyush Jain: RComm has clearly benefitted from this. I would say Bharti Airtel would benefit most eventually.

Our overall call is that the industry is now going to enter another phase of price competition and consolidation. This means we do need M&A norms now.

The larger players are going to be benefit the most. Bharti Airtel has the strongest balance sheet to take advantage of the M&A norms, and spectrum trading and sharing.